Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle
by College Fool
Summary: Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines. (Now Complete)
1. First Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines. No way she'd have ulterior motive… right?_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

He was cool, not creepy- though he was aware that the fact he made the distinction might itself be creepy. But he wasn't rude, and rarely crude, and where he'd been a hopeless dunce years ago he'd grown so much since then. He didn't always fall flat on his face.

Jaune Arc, you see, had become a ladies man. Or at least enough of one to have a chance.

He was a Huntsman now, but he didn't like to think of his targets as prey as he surveyed a bar. They were women, ladies, friends he hadn't met yet, and just possibly people he'd like to be more than friends with. Unlike a creep, he wasn't inclined to fantasize about them before he hit it off. He didn't know any of them- yet- and by the looks of it probably none of them knew him- yet- but that was fine. Better than fine, in fact. It was good, because it made tonight a chance for a fresh start.

Jaune took it all in the moment he walked into the bar. Huntsmen experience helped in some ways- the little attention to detail that helped identify the threats from the opportunities. That one had a ring, that one was with a boyfriend, those two weren't with any men but were probably with each other… too old, too young, too married, too big… way too big… way waaaay too big…

And then there she was- a mature sort of blonde, sitting at the edge of the bar nursing a strawberry sunrise. Flags started raising, one by one. She was alone. She didn't have a ring. She was paying idle attention to the guys, but none to a pair of lip-locked lesbians off in the corner. She might be waiting for someone, but then she might be waiting for anyone to approach. By the looks some were shooting at her, there was practically a queue of men almost willing to try- meaning they hadn't been rejected out of hand yet.

She was also, with long blonde hair, generous sunglasses, and a matching set of gloves and leather jacket that gave her an aura of maturity and deliberation, _hot._

Jaune knew she was a keeper if there ever was one, and knew he'd probably only have one chance to make a good first impression. Even so, he wasn't deterred- not by the informal queue of guys trying to work up the nerve to approach her, not by her apparent boredom as she surveyed the bar, not even by his less than stellar success rate. Remembering what his father had said about confidence, and other things he'd learned since then, Jaune ignored the queue and walked towards her.

She saw him approaching, obviously. She was sitting in a spot with the best view of the entire club. But when she did- Jaune didn't hide a smirk when her mouth dropped open, just a little. Whatever she saw as he walked towards her, she seemed to like. Maybe it was the jacket. The hoodie of freshman year was long gone, but it'd also been long since replaced by a similar leather jacket that did flattering things for his form. He'd put on muscle in the years since freshman year.

 _Confidence,_ he reminded himself, and raised an eyebrow in greeting. 'I see you watching me,' he might have said. People made way as he approached, and he quite casually slid onto the bar stool beside her. He asked the bartender for a drink, gave her time to recover and close her mouth, and then showed the fruit of nearly half a decade of Huntsman experience, all for her.

She wouldn't stand a chance.

"Pardon me, what pickup line works best on you?"

A beat. Then three. And then… well, peals of laughter weren't always a bad sign. In fact, it was expected for this one, and the fact that the woman was smiling was already a plus.

"I'm sorry, were you talking to me?" she asked, just to clarify in case he'd been talking to the man two-seats down now shooting him a dirty look for cutting in line.

"I was," Jaune nodded, unapologetic. "You look like a girl who's heard every line in the book- so what's one more? Unless you want to be left alone, I mean." And this is why he wasn't a creep. He's not afraid to flirt, but also already ready to back off if it isn't appreciated, and hardly deterred as he waited for his drink and her answer.

"No, by all means," she invited, a good sign indeed as she started to smile more and leaned against the bar to look at him. "Feel free to continue," she encouraged, even as she signaled for her own next drink. "Give me your best shot, stud."

"Is it hot in here, or is it just you?"

"It's just you," she parroted back with a smirk. "Maybe you should take off that jacket. I'm sure I could find a floor for it."

He laughed, liking where this was going already. Not only open, but with the wit to flirt back? Sure, she escalated- but for now, they were just playing. Feeling each other out. He shook his head in mock seriousness. "No seriously- you should stop, drop, and roll with me. You're on fire, baby."

"Maybe I should run through your sprinkler," she suggested, wagging an eyebrow behind those shades. "You know- to cool off."

"I don't think it'd matter for a hottie like you," Jaune bantered back. "Are you around campfires much? Because I definitely want s'more," he said, leaning towards her with an elbow.

She avoided his elbow before it could contact with her right arm, but gave him a bemused stare all the same. "Better… for a drunk. How many drinks did it take for you to come up with that?"

At that he chose indignation, even as he reached to accept his drink from the bartender. "I haven't had a drink yet," he admitted. "I'm just intoxicated… by you."

That time she really did laugh. "Now I know you're drunk. You've no idea who you're talking to, do you?"

That made him pause for a bit, and reassess her. Normally the people who said that were one of three types- politicians, celebrities, or the really rich. All the self-important types, basically, who expected you to already know them.

But this one… she had nice clothes, sure, smooth leather that really accentuated her arms and hands, but hardly anything like what Weiss wore on a casual day. He was pretty sure she wasn't a local politician- he'd already met the local ones, and even protected some of their families. And she didn't _seem_ airheaded enough to be a simple celebrity…

"I know you," he ultimately said, seeing only the blue eyes of his reflection as he looked into her shades and picked up his drink to take a sip. "You're the girl with the beautiful smile, right?"

That did make her smile, mayhaps a bit cheekily. "The best you'll ever come across," she agreed easily enough, thrilling him with hint of innuendo. "But your pickup lines still need some work, Vomit Boy."

It was perfectly timed- his eyes went wide, his cheeks went wider, and only a pre-emptive finger over his lips kept her from becoming intimately familiar with his drink. Instead, what would have gone out went back in and down the wrong pipe, sending Jaune Arc- Huntsman, Hero, and once upon a time Beacon student- bending over and coughing as he realized just who he had tried to pick up.

"Yang?!" he sputtered.

"The one and only," she smirked as she removed her glasses, somewhat smaller than her old aviator shades. "Feel free to take your time catching your breath. It's been awhile since I had that effect on guys."

Jaune coughed, and flushed, as much from lack of air as disbelief. "I- you- flirting!" he gasped.

"Oh, don't stop now," Yang encouraged, a shit-eating grin (or perhaps some other sort) on her face. "You were saying such _**nice**_ things."

"I didn't know it was you!"

"Don't let that stop you," Yang urged, grinning like a hungry wolf. "No, really- don't."

/

End First Round

/

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/

Author Note:

Typical style, typical warnings- this is a chapter-a-day fic, with a post a day. I call it popcorn style- something small each time, but frequeuent enough to get into it. In exchange for your patience, I can guarantee you a complete read since the entire story- all 32,000+ words of it- has already been written.

Sit back, watch, and leave a review if you're inclined.


	2. Second Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines. No way she'd have ulterior motive… right?_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

They found a more private booth soon after- the sort perfect for just acquainted pairs to get to know each other better in case they want to get to know each other better. Or, tonight, two old friends getting to know each other again.

"I still can't believe it's you," Jaune laughed as their drinks arrived- his a heavy beer, hers another of the same as before. "It's been years! What are you even doing out here in Mistral?" he asked. "Bit far from Haven, isn't it?"

"Oh, you know," Yang waved off easily. "Thought I'd travel the world some more. See new places, meet exotic people, catch their asses," she said with a predatory grin. "You know. Booty hunting of a different sort, except now it's for a good cause AND I get paid. I heard a rumor that someone in particular might be out here, and decided I wouldn't let the chance slip by."

Jaune looked at her… and scoffed in her face. "You got kicked out by Blake and Sun, didn't you?"

"Blake would never kick me out!" Yang hotly denied… before her bravado fell to a less convincing refusal to look him in the eye. "I was just… subtly encouraged to leave if I felt like it."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "How subtle?"

"Sex," Yang said bluntly, throwing back half of her drink in one go. "Lots and lots of sex. Blake and Sun are thinking about starting a family, and don't care who knows it. Or hears them trying," she grouched, only a slight blush covered her face. "I left when they stopped trying to do it before I got home and Blake started trying to sign me up for diaper changing classes."

Jaune laughed. "Good for them!" he cheered. "About time someone else settled down- Ren and Nora are getting impatient with waiting. Keep asking when someone else will give them kids to arrange playdates with. Maybe the next generation will be going to Beacon together after all- dust knows Nora's set on it."

"Tell me about it," Yang groused. "You don't even want to know how serious Weiss is about it. Just watch, she's going to try and time it so everyone's exactly the same age, down to the day." She pitched her voice to mock her friend. "Blake, you are in no way allowed to go into labor early! My itinerary has you delivering next week! Think of the school years, you dunce!"

Jaune chuckled. "How she's planning on getting everyone to conceive at the same time?" he asked.

Yang held up three fingers. "One, planning. Two, nagging. Three…" she trailed off.

"Three?"

"That's a secret," Yang claimed. "But, you know she'll spoil them rotten every chance she gets."

"As long as they aren't hers, that is," Jaune nodded. "Though I bet they'll learn their manners if they ever track mud in her house," he bet, before raising a glass to toast. "To the kids of friends being friends," he cheered.

"To spoiling other people's brats," Yang returned, and clinked their glasses. She sipped her drink, while Jaune finished his beer.

"Man, still good to hear," Jaune said. "I wasn't aware they'd tied the knot the yet. When did that happen?"

Despite the cheer, a frown came over Yang's face. "It hasn't. They're together together, but not together. Not officially. You'd have known if you were at the last reunion."

The merriment died from Jaune's face as a more somber look passed it. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I was… busy. There was a situation outside of Vale. You know how it is."

Yang sighed. "Yeah. I know. I heard about. Just like the previous year. And the year before that. And…" she trailed off meaningfully.

Jaune really did wince. "I do keep in touch with my team!" Jaune protested. "And I swing by and see Ren and Nora every few months!"

"And the rest of us?" Yang challenged.

And that was the rub, wasn't it? As close a team as there ever was, and still as close as they could be since growing up and graduating had split them apart. Weiss had gone to her corporation. Ruby had chased after her dream, and hadn't let anyone hold her back. Blake and Yang had stuck together the longest as partners, but now Blake had a new partner in her life…

The Reunion was all they had left, really. The one time each year they could come back as a team, as friends, as-

"How long has it been, Jaune?" Yang asked, fingering the top of her glass as she rested her cheek on a fist and looked to the side. "Since we were all together? Since we last all saw each other?"

"Awhile," he admitted, looking down. "Not since..."

"Graduation," Yang finished for him. "Five years, Jaune. Were you even going to send an excuse this time?"

No response- and honestly, none was expected. Jaune didn't say anything, because there was nothing really to say. They both knew the answer. He frowned, and Yang let the silence draw out as she fingered the lip of her glass and he drank from his.

"Yang?" he eventually broke the silence.

"Yeah, Jaune?" she said, still not looking at him.

"It really is good to see you again."

Cheek still on the palm of her glove, still staring at the ring of the glass with a cute little umbrella… Yang smiled.

/

End Second Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

'I expect laughs and fun banter,' they say. 'Maybe some minor feels' they say.

I'll show them laughs and minor feels... mwahahaha...

Oh, is this thing on? Uh... ahem.

Second chapter, still building on the role. Chapter lengths are pretty varied- each chapter relating to one contingent scene. Meaning most are longer than these two. So... yay?


	3. Third Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

They changed bars soon after, to shake off the mood that had settled over them. Yang paid that tab, Jaune insisted on paying the next, and together they walked down the street to the next bar. People made way for them, some looked curiously at the animated pair, and a few stared in appreciation- and not just as Yang.

They laughed about it as they found another booth in another bar.

"Did you see that kid on the skateboard?" Jaune chortled as he slid in. "His head was pivoting so far at you he almost fell off the curb."

"Not as funny as redhead in the red dress," Yang countered. "She actually did fall into a pothole."

"No shit!" Jaune gasped, unable to believe it. "I noticed her- she was pretty hot. Lookout, Yang, looks like your experimenting days aren't over yet," he teased.

"I doubt it," Yang countered. "The only thing I saw in her eyes was green. She was checking you out pretty hard before she noticed me. She might've been about to cross the street when she did. Might've thought we were together or something."

"No shit?" Jaune said, this time more contemplative as he looked at the door as if considering running out it and after her. "I might have to remember to come back her around this time again later, then," he decided.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "No lady-friend somewhere going to get upset if you do?" she asked carefully.

"I wish," Jaune admitted with a laugh, "but no."

"Really?" Yang asked despite herself. "I find that hard to believe. After your pickup lines back there, I was nearly swept off my feet," she claimed, complete with a clearly over-acted mock swooning. Then she froze, mid-swoon. "Oh, wait, never mind. That wasn't you. That was just me- I really am that hot."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "And how about you, Ms. Independent?" he picked back. "Found your pick of the litter yet, or are you still beating off guys with a stick?"

Yang closed her eyes and took a deep swig of her drink, delaying her answer for a bit. When she was finished, she looked perfectly fine.

"Not always with a stick," she shrugged. "Depends on if they take a hint or not. But really, nothing special on my end. You get bored with a harem of guys after awhile. Turns out that guys are only good thing for one thing, while women are good for six. Dear Monty, why couldn't I have been a lesbian?" she mock mourned.

"Oh, get off," Jaune protested, ribbing her a bit and missing the right arm to hit under her chest. "There must have been someone who caught your eye, right?"  
Yang considered. "A few, but for some reason all the good ones tend to be taken. Or gay. Or both. Though there was this one guy back in Beacon…" she mused.

Jaune leaned forward, interested. "Oh? I never heard about that," he said. "What happened there?"

"Nothing," Yang said with a shrug. "The guy couldn't take a hint. Cute, but totally oblivious."

"What an idiot," Jaune scorned. "He didn't know what he was missing."

Yang laughed. "Maybe, but that was part of his charm," she admitted. "It was… frustrating, at times, but also a relief."

"Because he never knew?"

"Heck no. That was the frustrating part," Yang denied. "Well, okay, sometimes you're left wondering if you're still attractive if someone you want to notice you doesn't. But on the other hand, never noticing means you don't get hurt by rejection, you know?"

"I might," Jaune said, so dry that Yang almost flinched.

"You know what I mean. If he's not falling for your tits or reputation you know he's sincere. That he honestly likes you for you. But if he doesn't like you as much as you want him to…" she traced the ring of her glass. "It means he's sincerely uninterested, I guess?"

"Do I smell a love triangle?" Jaune asked.

Yang sniffed in derision. "Like I'd be caught in something like that. There was someone else he liked nosing around. I stood back, did nothing, and hoped it would work out." She fingered her glass once more, considering. "I've always wondered whether if I'd made a move sooner, if things might have turned out differently."

There was a heaviness there- not angry, not sad, but wistful all the same- that made Jaune swallow. "Do you," be began, before swallowing around the tightness in his throat. "Did you stay in touch?" he asked.

Yang was quiet for a bit before she answered. "I tried, but he's been… less than social since then. Things didn't work out."

Jaune struggled for something to say, to find a pun or joke to lighten the mood. There was none, so he reached over and put a hand over hers instead.

"I'm sorry," he said, and she stiffened as his left hand set atop her right, but he continued. "I wish I could say something other than I'm sorry. But it's not too late, Yang. You know what they say- plenty of other fish in the sea," he encouraged.

Yang gave a little laugh, but her heart clearly wasn't into it. "If I were in the mood for fish, I wouldn't want a guy," she joked. "Not sure if I want to look for anyone else right now either," she said, tracing the glass lip once more.

"Well, I am," Jaune declared, surprising her by throwing an arm over her shoulder in a half-hug of solidarity. "And when we're done eating, I'm going to prove it. Come on, my treat," he said, passing her a menu. "No reason either of us has to leave alone tonight. If I can pick up a girl, you can totally get any guy you want. No excuses."

Yang seemed more bemused than enthused, as well as something else. "Can you, though?" she asked, a hint playful. "Or are you going to come crawling back to little ol' ugly me?"

Jaune rolled his eyes, even as he signaled a waiter to bring a menu. "The day you're old and unattractive will be the day I die, but just you wait. I've had years to work on my technique. I'm not puny first-year you used to know."

"Sounds promising," Yang said, giving a real smile in return, one with teeth. "Tell you what- let's trade numbers. Then you can call me if you need me to break you out of some other woman's vile clutches."

Jaune paused for a moment- a long moment- before visibly deciding to go with it. "Not going to take this chance to try bagging someone yourself?" he asked as they traded scroll numbers.

"Nah, I got what I need. Besides, this oughta be good," Yang said, tucking her scroll away. "Don't mind me- I'll just watch. Maybe I could teach you a thing or two after. You know, when I finish laughing," she teased.

Jaune sniffed. "That totally won't be necessary. I got this."

/

End Third Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

Spoiler alert: next chapter begins Jaune's amazingly successful pickup routine as he builds a harem out of a vast allotment of RWBY cameo characters in a single chapter while Yang watches. Watch as faunus everywhere fall for him because 'he's not racist.' Observe the master as basic good nature and ignorance of public persona wins over everyone who's ever been in the public eye. Hold your nose and check for bleeding when Jaune shows off his six/twelve/gazillian pack abs that he got since he started working out and sends every woman (and some of the men) in the bar longing with desire despite a prevalence of people who have also been working out even longer.

Also, sarcasm alert: the above was sarcasm.

[/jokes]

Anther short piece for the buildup. Important, because, buildup and stuff. And because combining it with the next piece makes it awkwardly long while the pacing for the buildup. Hence buildup.


	4. Fourth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

"Hey. You know what I'd do if I were King of Vale? I'd rearrange the alphabet so I could put U and I together."

"Pity. I'd prefer to put as much distance between them as I could. Good day."

/

"I know milk does a body good, but baby, how much have you been drinking?"

"Not nearly enough to make that work."

/

"Hel-oi! You could have let me finish first!"

"Sorry, thought I'd save time."

/

"I don't got this," Jaune admitted a bit later as he slunk back to Yang, who was elegantly nursing a margarita. It was odd to think of 'Yang' and 'elegant' in the same sentence, but it seemed to fit- the boisterous bruiser and beautiful girl had matured into a woman. Gone was the last of the baby fat in her cheeks, and in its place a sharper, more deliberate sort of beauty.

The smirk she had, though- the grin and inevitable teasing- that was all Yang.

"Oh, poor baby," Yang cooed. "Do you need to cry in my bosom?" she asked, opening her arms as if for a hug.

"That won't be necessary," Jaune denied, not even flushing since he knew she was kidding. "Just didn't work tonight, that's all."

"Does it ever?" Yang asked, skeptical.

"Eh, sometimes," Jaune said. "Ask enough people if they want to bonk, and eventually someone will say yes. This works a bit better than that."

"Who the heck taught you that?" Yang asked, even as she took a sip of… something.

"Your uncle," Jaune said, timing it just as Yang was taking a drink. "A true master of the pickup lines, that one." It was a rare thing to see Yang choke like that, and Jaune was smiling as she composed herself.

"Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked, struggling for breath. "You took dating advice from Uncle Qrow?"

"It was awhile ago, but yeah," Jaune admitted. "After Beacon, and…" he trailed off.

Yang didn't pay attention, didn't let the topic shift that way.

"You took dating advice from Uncle Qrow," she repeated, as if clarifying.

"Uh, yeah. I think we've both said that by now," Jaune affirmed.

"My Uncle. Who's closer to fifty than forty. You took his advice."

"Uh… is there a problem with experience?" Jaune asked.

"My Uncle. The lech. Who the closest thing to a girlfriend he ever had that I'm aware of was Weiss's sister Winter. Who tried to kill him."

"Okay, so maybe he doesn't have the best resume," Jaune began, "but-"

"My Uncle. Who is old, and single, and has been all his life. Who hasn't kept a stable relationship in decades. You asked for dating advice from a guy who was an awesome uncle but a lifelong bachelor?"

"Okay, so maybe it doesn't sound so smart when you put it like that," Jaune said, "but-"

Yang held up a gloved finger to stop him. "What you need," she ruled, "is help from a master. Which would be me."

"Wouldn't that make you my mistress?" Jaune pointed out.

"Why Jaune! I'd love to, thanks for asking," Yang said, putting on airs.

Jaune rolled his eye. "I don't see you picking up any guys yourself while I was getting rejected," he pointed out.

"You also didn't see me getting rejected," Yang pointed out. "So as far as you're concerned, I have a perfect record tonight. Besides, for your information I did get a number."

Jaune blinked. "Really? I didn't see it- whose was it?"

Yang rattled off a number which Jaune quickly recognized.

"My number doesn't count," Jaune discounted.

"I disagree," Yang said. "I've had better results tonight than you, at least."

Jaune was skeptical. "You don't win until you actually go home with what you set out for," he said.

Yang paused. "Work in progress, I guess," she conceded. "The night is still young."

"So it is," Jaune agreed, but noticed Yang was watching him. "What?" he asked.

Being caught seemed to startle her, but she rallied quickly.

"Oh," she began, "I was just wondering if you knew the essential difference between sex and conversation."

It seemed an obvious answer. "I mean, one uses your mouth, and in the other you… can also use your mouth," he remembered, catching himself.

Yang tutted. "No, huh? Then feel free to talk to me whenever you want," she suggested.

"For?" he said, just to draw it out.

"My help, of course," Yang said, preening with pretension. "A lovely, beautiful woman is offering to spend time with you tonight. You'd have to be an idiot to miss out on such an offer."

"Why do you I get the feeling you want me to beg on my knees?" Jaune asked dryly.

"Because, Jaune," Yang said, leaning forward and dropping her voice to a husky tone. "I'd love to see you begging on your knees."

Jaune leaned back and laughed, loud and hard, until Yang leaned back too with a smile and Jaune calmed down enough to point at her. "Prove it," he said, amused himself. "Show me your stuff."

Yang looked at him, raised an eyebrow, but then gave a generous shrug and began to reach for the zipper of her jacket.

Jaune snorted, not even flushing. "How to flirt," he corrected, not even slightly embarrassed.

Yang considered, and held out one gloved hand to point at a point in the bar about six feet away. "Go over there," she said, pointing with her pointer finger.

A bit confused, Jaune stood up and did as she said, only swaying a little from all the alcohol. When he got there, though, Yang turn her hang palm-side up. She slowly curled the finger in, a silent come-hither, that had Jaune walking back.

"You see?" she asked, as if it were self-explanatory.

"Uh, what was that?" Jaune asked, confused.

"That," Yang explained with a grin, "was me making you come with just one finger. Now imagine what I could do with two."

It took a second, but Jaune laughed all the harder when he caught it. "Alright, you got me there," he admitted.

"Not yet, but I intend to," Yang said. "Now, wanna see something swell?"

"Sure," Jaune agreed. "What is it?"

Yang didn't respond verbally, but looked at something about six inches below his naval. The alcohol must have begun to dull his wits, because it took him another second too long to realize. He belatedly covered himself, but still didn't blush.

"Ah well, nothing yet. Maybe later," Yang said easily, looking back towards safer territory. "That's a nice jacket you have there. Is it new?" she asked.  
Jaune looked down. It was a nice shirt- not too small, but not baggy either. Familiar as it might have been in his old hoodie colors, it hinted at the well developed core beneath. "It is, actually," he said. "I got it from-"

But Yang was ignoring his mouth- at least for now. "That jacket looks very becoming on you," she said. "Of course, if I were on you I'd be coming to."

Jaune didn't even close his mouth, suddenly slack-jawed at his friend's unexpected side. Or at least, unexpected to be aimed at him. It didn't take long for her to notice, or latch on.

"Am I drop-jaw gorgeous, or is that an invitation to put whatever I want there?" she asked.

Jaune closed his mouth hastily, finally worked into a real blush. "Who are you, and what have you done with my friend?" he asked.

"Depends," she returned. "Do you have sex with total strangers?"

"No!" Jaune protested.

"Oh," she said, not actually disappointed. "In that case I'm Yang."

Jaune groaned, and lowered his head to the table, picking up and waving a white napkin in surrender. "I miss the days when your puns were PG-13," he moaned.

Yang smirked, and took a drink in victory. "I still enjoy a bad pun as much as the next person-"

"We didn't," Jaune groused seditiously, but Yang pretended to ignore him.

"-but innuendo's where it's at. There's a whole other level of word play out there. Ruby's not the only one who grew up over Beacon," she said carelessly.

There was a pause, and a hint of worry passed her eyes, but Jaune was already waving it past before she could say anything.

"Don't worry," he said, moving on and picking himself up off the table with a more genuine frown than he'd had going down. He waved for another beer, forcing a laugh even if it lacked in mirth. "Still, can't believe you'd call that an improvement for flirting," he said, going back on topic. "Weiss would have slapped me if I'd tried that back in the day- or worse."

Yang shrugged dismissively. "Eh- different age, different context. Who are you hoping to find in a bar like this- Ms. Right, or Ms. Right Now?"

It wasn't meant to be anything serious, but when Jaune didn't respond she looked over to see him staring down at his just-arrived beer. There was no smile as he watched the spirits at the bottom of his glass.

"Does it really have to be one or the other?" he asked softly, so quietly she had to read his lips for half of the words.

Yang frowned, and this time it was her turn to throw an arm out over his shoulder. "You know what? Don't mind me," she said, taking back her earlier dismissal. "Stranger things have happened, right? Maybe Ms. Right is Ms. Right Here," she said optimistically. "Just talk to her, and I'm sure you'll hit it off."

Jaune shook his head, but more to clear his head than to disagree with her. "You're right," he said, rousing himself to better cheer, putting the moment of moodiness behind him. "Won't find her if I don't look, right? Or maybe I can find Mr. Right for you," he suggested with a chuckle.

Yang's chuckle was a bit more forced. "Right," she agreed. "Maybe you'll see him in the bathroom when you're washing up," she suggested.

"Funny place to look, but I'll keep an eye open," Jaune promised, before stepping off his stool and stepping away. He made his way to a possibly single lady drinking further down the bar, and Yang watched him go.

"Dumb blonde," she muttered once she was sure he was safely out of earshot, though who she was referring to wasn't quite clear. She looked down, and noted a severe lack of drink before her, and sighed. Maybe she'd be drinking alone tonight after all.

Still…

"Excuse me," she called, signaling the bartender. "Can I get a Strawberry Sunrise over here?"

/

End Fourth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

Sweet jesus and holy-moly, references to drinking and sex in a T rated story? All those little teenage hearts, ruined forever by pickup culture. How ever will their little minds endure the innuendo? Someone fetch me a fainting couch.

On a separate note- Yang likes puns The definition of pun is: a play on words. Typically suggesting two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings, or similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. I simply consider Yang's migration of puns towards innuendo and higher forms of wordplay a reflection of her maturation and character development at Beacon.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I don't actually catch most of Yang's puns in the first place. [/playing it straight]


	5. Fifth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

It wasn't long before someone slipped to the empty space to her side. Not Jaune- who was approaching yet another woman- but someone who might have been him six, seven years ago. Young, limber, and the same sort of blonde… but with a different sort of confidence, and a swagger Jaune had never had and long stopped pretending to by then.

"Hey beautiful," the new guy began. "Can I buy you a drink?"

She gave him another measuring look. "You even legal?" she couldn't help but asking. Seriously- the guy looked like a _kid._

"I got an in with the bartender," he claimed before wagging his eyebrows. "And _definitely_ legal. So the offer stands- what will you have?" he offered again.

"Nothing exciting. I'm cutting off the alcohol tonight," Yang claimed, indicating her nearly-empty strawberry sunrise.

The kid- seriously, she couldn't shake the image- nodded agreeably. "Fair enough- night's funner when you have a clear head for it," he brazenly stated. "Pops- another one for the lady," he called, taking her explanation as agreement.

Yang spotted Jaune talking to yet another someone else, and shrugged to herself. Might as well pass the time.

"You a huntsman?" she asked, pegging him as the type. Fit, fearless, and young- confident enough to dare, brave enough to be bold, but inexperienced enough to be caught staring. Modest as her jacket was compared to how low she used to wear, it hardly hid her assets.

"In training," he admitted, before realizing he probably shouldn't have. He rallied with bravado. "I've seen my share grimm," he humble-bragged. "Know what my favorite thing to hunt is, though?" he asked.

"What?" Yang asked, humoring him.

"Cougars."

It was clever, she'd give him that… or at least a small chuckle. "Not bad, if you wanted to imply I'm old enough to be your mother." She wasn't, but he had implied.

"Nothing wrong with a bit of experience. Or a lot," he suggested, wagging his eyebrows in a way he no doubt thought was attractive.

Seriously. Kids.

"True," she agreed, "but if you're interested in a piece of a meat, zoo's down the road," she dismissed, turning back away from him. He frowned- no doubt upset his clever joke hadn't been so well received. She enjoyed the silence, and the drink he'd bought her, as he rallied, before letting her eyes wander the bar. Yup, still failing… she winced in sympathy at the sound of a slap.

The girl who did that was probably going to need an ice pack. Jaune's aura, like a lot of things about him, was _big._

"That your brother failing with the ladies there?" the kid asked, resuming the conversation.

"Hardly." It surprised her, but then maybe it shouldn't have. They were both blondes, after all, and Jaune hadn't exactly stuck around.

"He must be a real idiot, then, to neglect a pretty thing like you. Any family of yours would have to be something else when it comes to love."

Kid was so young he didn't even notice the tension in her glove. "You don't even know the half of it," she neither agreed or disagreed, before considering herself. Maybe there was more in these drinks than she thought, to ramble like that.

Kid didn't care though. Kid didn't know her better. "You could do better than him," he said, leaning against the bar and looking at her meaningfully. No doubt 'better' meant younger.

It wasn't the first time a kid had tried to pick her up. Probably wouldn't be the last. "And what would I get from you?"

"Nothing but a good time tonight," the kid promised, possibly not realizing he'd been insulted. "Besides, aren't you curious? There are 256 bones in the human body- tonight, you could have one more."

"That all?" Yang asked dryly.

He blinked. "Well, what are you hoping for? Someone to kiss you and whisper sweet words in your ear the morning after?" the kid asked, before realizing she was already tuning him out. He followed where she was looking, and his mouth dropped a little. "Wait, really?"

Yang didn't respond, leaving him free to continue assuming things as she watched Jaune finally start an animated conversation with some pretty thing.

"But he's- just look at him, he's _clueless,_ " the guy protested.

"And honest. You'll understand the appeal when you're older," she half-heartedly dismissed, even as Jaune leaned in close and whispered something in the young woman's ear. Idly Yang noticed her hair was black, and short.

"He doesn't even know you're watching," the kid realized. "No way he'd be striking out that much if he had a clue."

Yang took a long drink from her strawberry sunrise as the pretty girl laughed at something Jaune said.

"He hasn't even looked your way once," kid continued. "He wouldn't even notice if you stepped out for a good time. Hell, he's probably expecting you to. What do you say?"

Yang put down her glass with a sigh. "I'd say the two of you have something in common, then," she said.

"Yeah? Like what?" the kid challenged, looking more offended than he had any right to be.

"An inability to take a hint," she said more directly than before. "Not interested, kid."

He rolled his eyes- a familiar gesture tonight. "I'm not asking for your life or your love, just your time and body," he said, also more directly than before. "Just one night, and then I'll never talk to you again. You have a fun time for once, I get a good story, and everyone leaves happy. What have you got to lose?"

"Time tonight with a friend," Yang said bluntly.

"Time well wasted, lady," the kid jeered, looking past her and no doubt at Jaune. From the corner of her eye, she could see the girl leaning closer to Jaune, tracing a hand higher and higher up his leg.

Yang sighed. Time to break out the big guns.

"You're not my type, kid," even if he might have been nine or ten years ago. Luckily for her tastes had matured along with the rest of her. "And I doubt I'm yours."

"I'll beg to differ," he disputed, openly appreciating- or leering- at her figure. "And other things too, if you want."

She didn't. "Here, let me show you my nutcracker impression," she said, reaching over. But instead of the bar's free peanuts, or what he was already protectively shielding, Yang simply reached into her glass and pulled out a few ice cubes. She held them up in her gloved palm for him to see.

And then she slowly, deliberately, closed her hand into a fist. The ice cubes snapped apart, crackled under tension, and popped, and one small fragment popped out at the end. Cracked ice and a hint of water dripped out of her palm, watched by a paling face.

"Excuse me," Yang said, letting the ice drop and beginning to take off her jacket. "It's a bit hot in here."

More than one head turned to watch, eager to see what was under the jacket. And more than one winced when they did. The kid wasn't looking at her figure with lust- he looked at a more distal part of her body, his face paling in horror.

"Well, now that you've talked me out of my jacket, what do you think of me now?" Yang asked, an old and familiarly fake smile on her face once more as she took off her gloves.

The kid didn't respond. He was still staring at the scars more than halfway down her right arm, where Adam Tauros had cut it off and changed her life forever. A smooth black prosthetic extended, giving an obvious contrast to her fair skin and doing nothing to hide the scars from the surgeries.

The kid looked at her, anything but lust on his face. "You're- you're-" he began, paling.

Yang put on a practiced smile. "Why yes- I'm Yang Xiao Long. Huntress, Beacon grad, and veteran of that nasty business with Cinder and Salem a few years ago. I'm also-"

"A _cripple_ ," he spat, as if she were diseased.

"Really? I never noticed," Yang lied, not even feeling a desire to throttle him as she looked at her often covered arm. She twisted experimentally, showing off the full, inhuman, range of motion of the prosthetic hand. "I prefer 'the One Handed Heroine' myself. Funny story behind that, actually. But it's not so bad, you know," she shared conversationally, bending her wrist to an inhuman degrees. "Not only can I rip off my own arm and beat someone to death with it- more than once, no less- I can set the strength to whatever I want. No matter how soft," she said, gently picking up a glass about as wide as a thin neck, "or how hard."

With a squeeze too fast to see, the glass shattered. Pinkish-red liquid dripping out between the fingers of her fist.

"So, now that I've broken the ice," she began, false honey in her tone as she appeared so cheerful that her eyes were closed and she wouldn't have to look at his face, "still want to take my time?"

He was already pushing away from the table. "You can keep it," he said, clearly trying to get space. "And you can keep him, if he'd ever have you- you _crip_ ," he spat again, as if it were the worst curse he could muster. He turned away, stepping away as fast as he could.

And bounced off of a far more formidable blonde's mass. He didn't fall, though- Jaune's grip on his shirt kept him from falling, even as his feet slid out from under him. Jaune's hand didn't falter- even when he was one-handedly holding the kid up off the ground, and then practically curled the boy to get a better look at his face.

"What," Jaune asked, looking very unhappy indeed, "did you call her?"

Eight, nine years ago the kid might have beaten Jaune. Eight, nine years ago the kid might have **_been_** Jaune, had Jaune ever been the sort to be bothered by such a thing. But he wasn't Jaune- he was just a kid still working on one day becoming a Huntsman worth the name, while Jaune was a veteran who'd made his name in the worst conflict to wrack Remnant in a generation.

There might have been shame, but not much surprise when the kid broke under the pressure directed at him. Unmanly tears might not have flown, but they weren't too far behind the babbling when Jaune started to repeat his question.

"Let him go, Jaune," Yang finally called from the bar, where she'd just begun cleaning up the mess on her hand with a napkin. "He was just leaving, weren't you kid?"

The kid couldn't speak. He could only fervently nod his head up and down when Jaune glared at him.

A thought occurred to her. "And he was going to pay for everything as an apology for this mess, wasn't he?" she added.

A pause. A glare from a larger, stronger, more masculine blonde. More fervent nodding.

Yang stepped away from her stool, smiling as if nothing was the matter. "See? All's good. Let's all kiss and make up," she suggested, before wagging a finger of flesh and blood at the two. "But no kiss for you, buster," she said before bringing her lips to Jaune's cheek and whispering something only he would hear.

"Let's get out of here without any more of a scene, alright?" she asked quietly.

"Fine," Jaune said, still not entirely appeased. "You can go," he said, releasing the kid from his grip.

Releasing the kid meant dropping him on the ground on his butt. He picked himself up and ran, though a quick word sent him running to pay the bartender instead. Yang smiled to the watching public in her most disarming way.

"Well, we'll take our leave. Have a good night, everyone, and remember to have a designated driver!" she called out before leading Jaune to the door. One hand- the natural one- gripped his arm tightly as she guided him out the door.

And if that grip was strong enough that it would have left bruises on a normal person… well, Jaune had the aura to take it.

/

End Fifth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

Minor feels writing, activate!

Not too much to say that wouldn't be better saved tomorrow. I am heartily amused at the level of paranoia in the reviews so far. Some have guessed at the twist of the story... but they won't know who they are until later. Mwahaha.

Almost wrote a bit too much about story pacing, but it was wasted. Bottom line, if you're wondering why rounds 3 and 4 were split rather than one combined larger chapter, it was pacing control. By splitting as two normal-ish segments, rather than one, the perception that it seems longer builds a sense of continuity of the scenes and character development- in this case, (re)establishing Jaune and Yang's friendship after round 2's conflict and depiction of a breakdown. That reestablishment is vital for setting up the climax of this chapter, where Jaune stands up for a friend rather than be avoiding them. It's not the sort of affect that can be conveyed with one larger chapter. It's often rate, not amount, of information received that determines your perception of something, and that was the effect I was going for here. Cool part of planning popcorn fics like this.

But, enough about that. Since people have been claiming winners and losers since the first chapter, who won the fifth round? Yang? Jaune? Nameless hunter kid? You decide, in the reviews, along with your thoughts!


	6. Sixth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

"So. Going to tell me what that was all about?" Jaune asked shortly after they left the bar and were down the street.

"Nothing important," Yang claimed, finally releasing her grip from Jaune and letting her normal hand dangle at her side like her prosthetic. "Just some punk upset he couldn't get the supermodel he was hoping for."

"He was trying to-" Jaune began, point at her and back at the bar as if trying to describe some incomprehensible thing. Possibly from how the kid had been acting by the end- but more likely that the kid would try for someone so far out of his league.

"Pick me up?" Yang finished. "Yeah. 'Trying' being the key word. Like some blondes I know, he could not take a hint."

"At least I'm not that bad," Jaune defended, leaving Yang to give a short 'heh.' It only spurred him on. "You know it's true!" he protested. "I've never called someone something like that after a rejection. Not even-"

"Not even Weiss, dust knows she deserved it at times," she filled, even that wasn't who he was going to say. "You were annoyingly persistent, but usually a good sport about it. Except for that one time with her scroll…?" she trailed off, before blinking. "Why did you destroy her lost scroll that one time?" she asked, honestly curious. She'd only heard it from Weiss, who was just plain confused.

A curious embarrassed blush rose up on his cheeks. "Nothing important," he claimed waving it aside. "And besides, it was nothing compared to that punk," Jaune growled, back to a mood of righteous moodiness. "I can't understand that- why would someone say something as ugly as that?"

Yang sighed. "Because I'm not pretty, or at least this isn't," she explained, rubbing the joining of flesh and metal with her intact hand. "You have to be pretty fucked up to not be a pretty Huntress in Remnant, even if you're always in the thick of it. Goodwitch was flawless. Neo was classy. Cinder had to burn half to death before she was anything other than drop dead gorgeous. Aura makes it hard to have anything but great complexion- just look at Salem." She paused. "Well, you know. Before we beat her bruised and bloody."

Jaune considered. "You know, when I first got to Beacon I did wonder if I went to a school for supermodels by mistake."

Yang laughed. "Yeah, I think I first started training as much to be hot as to be strong. But it builds expectations, you know? Everyone expects everyone else to look perfect. Even the slightest blemish is ugly if it's not impressive. If you're not good, you're either seriously fucked up, weak, or fucked up because you were weak. It scares people. Makes them feel mortal. Unwhole, even."

Jaune shook his head, not really grasping it. "I still can't believe it. Or that you were willing to just walk away like that. When did you care about making a scene?" he asked.

Yang considered, and shrugged. "When I grew up and got over it, I guess?" she guessed. "I learned awhile ago that if I punched every person who flinched about it, I'd never run out of people to punch. I figured it was easier to not be bothered by it anymore than to keep punching."

Jaune looked at her as she finished, mature with the wisdom of experience, and gave her a look that plainly said 'I don't believe it.'

"Plus, my arm got tired after a while," Yang added with a laugh, rolling the arm without the prosthetic. It still dangled down by her side.

"That sounds more like you," Jaune accepted with a laugh, before looking contemplative. "So, if someone were to, say, mess with your hair then," Jaune trailed off meaningfully.

"That bastard is going down," Yang vowed vehemently.

Jaune laughed at it, glad that much was still just as he remembered. "I still can't believe everyone and their brother isn't asking you out, though," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "If I didn't know you already…" he trailed off.

"You'd…?" Yang prompted, watching him carefully.

Jaune shrugged. "I'd try to get to know you," he said easily.

Yang smiled slightly at that. "Don't get me wrong," she said, facing forward. "It's not like I can't get a roll in the hay if I want it. It's just…" she trailed off.

"Just?" Jaune prompted.

Yang sighed. "Just, I understand where Pyrrha was coming from way back then. Yeah, I can find someone who's not bothered too much to give it a go- civies care the least, usually- but they're not doing it with me. They're scoring with Yang Xiao Long, Famous Huntress, Hero from the troubles. It's a story to them, something to brag about with their buddies back home. The arm is just the cost of the brag." She shook her head. "Not quite what I'm looking for."

There was a comfortable silence of understanding, just the two of them walking, before Yang broke it again.

"What about you?" she asked, turning the focus back towards Jaune. "Not that I don't appreciate the assist, but I thought you were hitting it off with that girl. She seemed your type." Short, black hair... all she'd been missing was-

"I don't have a type. Not really," Jaune denied. Maybe he did tend towards girls smaller than him, but then, most were.

"Good to know," Yang said honestly enough. "But how's that lead you back to me?" she asked. "She looked pretty into you."

Jaune sighed, and scratched the back of his head. "That was kind of the problem. She was... once she realized who I was. You're not the only notch in a belt around here, you know?" He paused. "Do girls notch belts?" he asked.

"We've been known to brag," Yang admitted. "Still- fame sucks?"

"More than I like to admit," Jaune said. He paused. "And I'll have you know I deliberately avoided that dirty joke you just set up. I'm not that easy, you now."

"Don't I know it," Yang replied with a chuckle. Jaune raised an eyebrow, not catching the joke, but gave the mental equivalent of a shrug.

"Yeah, it's not that I can't pick up someone," he resumed. "It's just that it's hard to find a girl who doesn't already know me, before they get to know me, even though they don't know me at all." He paused, crossing his eyes as he tried to consider what he just said. "Does that make any sense at all?" he asked.

"Kinda," Yang admitted. "So you, what, try to see if you can pick up girls before they recognize who you are?"

"Something like that," Jaune admitted. "I'm not keeping it a secret or anything, but… it's nicer if they're not awed by it, you know? I'd like it if they weren't just impressed by things I only helped do."

Yang reached out and patted him with her left hand. "Don't worry, Vomit Boy," she cooed reassuringly. "I still remember what you were like before you were famous."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "You could stand to be a little bit impressed, you know," he complained half-heartedly and entirely insincerely.

"Show me a good time and I will," Yang countered. "Tell you what," she proposed, pulling at his right arm and guiding him towards another establishment that looked promising. "How about we hit another bar, see where it leads?"

"Sure," Jaune said, not minding how close she was holding his arm as she pulled. "And maybe we can find those mythical bar hoppers while we're at it," he suggested, looking on the bright side. "You know, the ones who see and like us for who we are, flaws and all, all that jazz. They have to exist somewhere, right?"

"Mm. Probably," Yang agreed, even if she didn't sound committed. She shot him a glance. "So… if you weren't looking for more, if you just wanted to get laid, no strings attached, how'd you do it?"

"You really want to know?" Jaune asked, even though he knew she did. He sighed at her insistence, and stopped walking to take a breath and turn towards her.

"Hey beautiful," he asked, dropping his pitch to something a bit more enticing, "I heard the Arcs have one son and some of the loveliest ladies in the land. You wouldn't be one of them, would you?"

Yang realized she was supposed to respond. "No?" she guessed.

"Really? No Arc in you at all? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"And pretty. Well then," Jaune said, moving in closer. "Would you like some?"

She could have laughed. Instead, Yang stepped closer against him.

"Yes please," she said, licking her lips and looking him in the eye.

Jaune broke first. "That's what she said!" he complained between laughs. "That's what they all say!"

"Really?" Yang asked, unable to hold it in and laughing herself. "That really works?"

"Way, _way_ more often than I'd like to admit," Jaune admitted. "Though to be fair, you should hear some of the pickup lines they've used on me."

Yang chuckled, even as she shouldered open the door to the next bar. "Tell you what- I'll buy the drinks, and you tell me what works on you. My treat until someone takes you home," she offered.

"Deal," Jaune said. "But my treat if someone picks you up first," he countered. "Probably cheaper for you that way," he said.

Yang rolled her eyes, but let it slide.

/

End Sixth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And this round goes to...? (Even though, technically, it's rounds of drinks. Not fighting.)

So, by now, there's probably been enough gradual foreshadowing to figure out what's going on... and that's good! It's a bit boring if everything's dumped at once, and it's been interesting to see people get progressively closer to the truth over the chapters. But if you aren't tracking- or you're one of the many people who are just _mostly_ right- well, good news. Tomorrow will enlighten you. Or darken your day. Either-or?

What, you thought this chapter was as good as it got? Oh ye of little faith. That's right, folks- it's coming. You knew it would. Run for your happiness, 'cause College Fool's truck of feels is coming. Choo choo.

(Yeah, I know that's a train. I just don't know the sound for a truck whistle. Sue me- or leave a review.)


	7. Seventh Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

"If I see another guy wince at the sight of you, I'm going to throttle someone," Jaune warned with all due seriousness as he slid back on the stool around the bar corner from her.

"Really?" Yang asked, leaning on her right elbow and sipping from the glass held in her normal left. "I didn't notice. Maybe he just saw you come and thought he lost his chance?" she offered.

Jaune frowned, shaking his head even as he glared over her shoulder. "That doesn't stop guys from admiring," he claimed. He shook his head. "I really, really don't get it," he repeated once more, taking a sip of the drink he'd left Yang to guard. "We've been here half an hour- how come no one's come by to hit on you- us- yet?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "You're really asking that?" she asked, not quite believing him.

Jaune blinked, maybe a bit slower than usual thanks to the alcohol in him. "Why not?" he asked.

Yang sighed a bit as she put her Strawberry Sunrise down and held up four natural fingers. "One," she began, transitioning to just one digit, "We've been drinking together for the last hour. People think we're together," she informed, not sounding particularly put off by the fact.

"And?" Jaune asked. "We're just catching up- plenty of people would try to get in on that sort of conversation. I've seen that all the time."

Yang looked at him. "They think we're together-together," she tried again.

Jaune scoffed. "If we were hooking up, I'd have taken you home long ago," he said.

Yang didn't dignify that with a response. Not visibly, at least.

"Two," she continued instead, "I'm not wearing my jacket."

Jaune blinked, and looked closer, and belatedly realized that not only was it true, but also what it meant. Her shirt was quite becoming, so to speak, but the sleeveless shirt did nothing to hide the scars and joining of flesh and metal.

He'd practically forgotten, somehow. Or cared so little it hadn't made a difference to him.

"Wait," he began, "where is it? Last I recall…" he tried to remember, before his eyes widened. "That punk," he growled, mood darkening again. "You forgot it back then." He made to stand. "Want me to run and go get it for you?" he offered.

"Not really," Yang declined. "Stay with me instead?" she asked, a mixed expression on her face.

Jaune paused, looking like he still wanted to storm back and reclaim her jacket, but sat back down with a little huff. Not at her, but for her.

"Why leave it?" he asked instead.

"It was old anyway," Yang waved off with her real hand, before a more bitter smile crept over. "Besides," she gave the more honest truth, "sometimes it's easier to just let it be obvious. Then I don't have to see them flinch up close," she said, not really looking at anyone. "If someone's willing to talk already knowing about it, it's easier, right?" she asked. "One less thing to worry about when someone approaches."

Jaune frowned, not saying the obvious. No one had come up to talk to her. To either of them, really.

"And that's reason number three," Yang proceeded with a more sincere grin, pointing at his creased brow. "Seriously, Jaune- you keep glaring like that at every guy who so much as glances at my direction, and I'm going to have to start calling you Daddy. No one's going to be brave enough to try and take me away from you if you keep looking like that," she said, though it hardly seemed to bother her.

Jaune startled a bit at the thought that he might be to blame, but then settled back down into a grump. A deliberate, snarky grump if the curl of his lips was to be believed. "Eh, if they're not brave enough to talk to you, they don't deserve the pleasure of your company."

"Flirt," Yang accused with an unaccusatory grin. "And how would you feel if no one else talks to me all night?"

"Then I'll just have to fill in. Their loss, my gain," Jaune said easily.

Yang grinned wider. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Jaune," she promised.

Jaune rolled his eyes, but considered something. "Well, glares explain you, but what about me? No one's come up to me either- what do you say to that?" he asked.

There was an answer to that- one not so different- but Yang moved onto her fourth and final point instead.

"Finally," Yang began, holding all four fingers, "our reputation proceeds us. They know who we are," she said.

Jaune stilled at that. Focused as he'd been on Yang, he hadn't been paying quite as much attention- but now that she pointed it out, he could feel it too. The sensation of eyes on his back, the turning away of heads too sudden to be natural when he made to look, and the curious gazes he could see out of the corner of his eyes. And there, on the edge, muttered whispers and the mentions of their names by people they'd never met or introduced themselves too.

"Busted," he sighed with regret. "Well, there goes anything but a fame-fan from here. Want to go somewhere we'll be a bit less conspicuous?" he asked.

"Not much point," Yang countered. "Word's probably already spread all along the pub crawl here. I'd already heard rumors of you in the area before we met- but the two of us, together? We stand out too much not to gossip about."

Jaune sighed. "There goes tonight, then," he said, making Yang frown a little before he looked at her apologetically. "Sorry for ruining your chances, Yang," he apologized.

"You haven't-" Yang began, before clearly changing line of thought mid-sentence. "You know what? You can make it up to me instead," she magnanimously proposed.

"You sure?" Jaune asked, looking at her carefully. "If we split up, you might have a chance at not going home alone tonight."

That was more wrong than he knew. "There are worse things than being stuck with you," Yang said instead. "Besides, it's fun hanging out again. It's like back at-"

She paused, grin fading as she approaching the unspoken line of all night even as Jaune finished it for her.

"Back at Beacon," Jaune finished with a sigh, and an uncommonly bitter laugh. "How much do you want to bet they heard about it too?" he asked, indicating the distant but covertly curious onlookers.

Yang frowned now. "It wasn't exactly public knowledge, even with the other students," Yang tried to reassure. "I mean, there were rumors, sure, and it was obvious something happened, but Ruby never-" she began, and cursed herself again for breaking the unspoken taboo.

"Ruby wouldn't tell," Jaune finished again. "She's too nice for that," he said, fingering his glass with an undeniably melancholic expression.

There was a silence that lingered until Yang broke it.

"She's sorry, you know," Yang said.

"She never told me," Jaune said quietly.

"She didn't mean to hurt you," Yang added.

"I never thought she did," Jaune agreed, no less melancholic.

"She regrets it," Yang tried, attempting a different angle.

Jaune didn't respond at first. He closed his eyes. He swallowed.

"…I know," he managed to admit.

Yang slammed her good left hand on the table.

"Then why haven't you come back?!" she demanded, not caring about the silence from the audience as her eyes flashed red. "You know she didn't mean to- I mean, you know she wants things to go back to the way they were- you know she's not bad- so… why?"

He didn't say anything. Maybe there was nothing he could say. Despite herself, Yang's eyes were shifted between red and violet as she gritted her teeth and fought for control.

"If you just came back- if you just let her apologize-" she tried.

"Yang."

It was a single word, and simple, but one loaded with so many emotions that should never be tied to her name. Yang looked at his desolate expression, and the fire inside her died as red eyes turned back blue.

"I just-" Yang began, sitting back down and looking at the table rather than him. "I just don't understand why. Why you've been avoiding us all." Avoiding the reunion.

Jaune was also looking down, meeting her eye in the reflection on the table.

"Because I don't want her apology," he answered.

Something inside withered. "You don't?" she repeated in a questioning tone.

"Ruby regrets it. She'd take it back if she could. But I-," Jauen crossed his arms on the table and lay his head down on it. "I don't regret it, no matter how much I wish I could. It'd be so much easier if I could, but even if I found myself back then… I'm not sure if I'd avoid it, or just try and do better."

Yang softened in realization. "You- you're still…" she whispered, as if not saying it would make it any less true.

Jaune laughed bitterly. "Head over heels? Unable to let go of a wrong impression? A dumb blonde?" He laughed again. "Getting over Weiss was so much easier. At least she had Neptune, short as that was. Tell me- has Ruby found someone special yet?" he asked, looking off to the side.

Yang hated when she hated being honest. "Still married to the job, and nothing else but. There might've been a few, but… you know her, always running around too fast to put down roots."

Jaune laughed mirthlessly. "I really wish you'd told me she was happily married and raising a family somewhere," he said, and sighed. "Maybe then I could accept it rather than feel like a pining idiot."

"You can't move on," Yang recognized. Not a question, not an accusation, simply a statement of fact.

"Not for lack of trying," Jaune confessed. "I don't hate her, you know. We stay in touch. Did you know that?"

Yang shook her head. "No," she admitted. "Since I hadn't seen you since, I just assumed you two…"

Jaune snorted. "It's hardly a conversation- just every few months she sends a text of what continent she's on, and I do the same, and we let each other know if we change scroll numbers so that we don't accidentally stumble across each other. Again." He picked himself up to take a swig of his drink at the return of _that_ particular memory. "If she called for help, I'd coming running, and vice-versa I'm sure, but…"

"You're both too stubborn," Yang said sadly, shaking her head and knowing they never would.

Jaune laughed self-deprecatingly. "That's one way to put it," he admitted. "You were there those last few months," he reminded. "We could barely talk by the end. Hell Ruby could barely stand to be in the same room as me."

"Because she felt guilty," Yang interjected. For this, for that, and for something else he'd never known, or at least never believed…

Jaune looked at her, as if she made a distinction without a difference, before he continued as if she hadn't spoken.

"And I," he continued, "I just couldn't accept being just- just-" he struggled, so she said it for him.

"Just a one night stand."

Jaune grimaced. "Yeah. That." He sighed. "You two are alike like that, you know? Brutally honest when it'd be kinder to tell a lie."

"I try to be more tactful about it," Yang defended.

"Yeah, but you still don't lie," Jaune pointed. "You just… don't always say what you're thinking."

Yang sighed. Wasn't that the truth? "She trusted you," Yang reminded. "She didn't want to risk losing it to a stranger she'd regret. She wanted to lose it to a friend."

"Look how well that turned out," Jaune laughed bitterly. "I thought she wanted more. I wanted more," he admitted. He curled his fist around the glass, and threw back an entire shot. "Part of me still does, even if I know it's stupid. That I must look stupid."

"You ever consider that the rest of us might have wanted to see you anyways? Help you get over it?" Yang challenged, voice unintentionally raising. "How were you expecting to move on if you just kept running away?!"

"Like I said, I tried!" Jaune returned with just as much heat. "Ruby left a hole, and I've tried to fill it ever since. I tried just being a Huntsman. I tried keeping her out of sight, out of mind. I tried letting time heal. I've tried to forget, to give up, to get over myself and get over it!" Jaune defended, voice raising. Seeing heads turn, he lowered, his head and spoke quieter.

"I've tried to get over her, Yang," Jaune repeated, "and let me tell you- it's not that easy. When she- I fell, and I fell hard. When someone so amazing said she wanted to, wanted me to… I couldn't believe it was anything else. No way I'd be so lucky twice. No way it would be just a thing. We'd fought together, bled together, trusted each other more than I thought you could trust anyone after our quest to Haven. But when there wasn't anything more to it- when it was just luck, and bad luck at that…"

He looked at her.

"Do you know how hard it is to move on over someone who could leave you breathless without trying to?" he asked. "Not by being amazing and doing amazing things no one else could, but just by doing or saying things that maybe someone else could but no one else did at the right time and moment?"

"Yes, actually," Yang admitted, looking him dead in the eye.

Jaune paused, looking back… and believed her. He closed his eyes, trying to let the tension fade, and sighed.

"Then you know it's not that easy. Time…"

"Time doesn't make it go away. Not always," Yang finished, tentatively reaching out and squeezing his hand with her own flesh and blood.

"I've tried so hard for so long, Yang," Jaune admitted, lowering his head to rest it over her hand. "I thought- I've thought for so long now- that the only way to fill what she left would be to find someone else who could fill it. That if I could find someone- anyone- who could pull me out of it, maybe I could move on." He laughed. "Pathetic, right? Wanting to fall in love so I can move on."

"Is that what you call trying to pick up random women who don't know you?" Yang couldn't help it- she barked out a short laugh, and not particularly kind. It was bitter, if not quite mocking. "Is that what you've been doing all these years? Looking for love in a bar?"

Jaune stilled, tensing even before he raised his forehead off her hand to look at her. The shared warmth of his moment of weakness chilled as he looked at her incredulously for the hint of mockery. "You'd say that? You? Who do you think I learned that from?" he demanded.

Yang mostly hid a flinch. "I didn't think you'd take it so close to heart," she defended. She didn't think he'd take it so literally.

She'd told him he shouldn't give up. To hold out for anyone who might be willing to step in and help him move on. Someone who might, who knows, be at the very next bar, willing to share a drink and some time and be there not just that night but the morning after…

Jaune stood up, taking his hand out from under hers, almost glaring as he reached into his wallet.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have told me that," Jaune snapped. "I never seem to know when you and your sister are serious or not."

This time Yang really did flinch, even as he slapped a number of lien on the table.

"Drinks are on me. I'm stepping out to cool off. Don't feel like you have to wait for me," Jaune said, before stalking away.

Yang watched him leave, a frown apparent on her face as she watched him walk away once more. Only when the door slammed did she look at the lien, and the undrunk spirits they could buy. A drink sounded desperately good right about now, and there was more than enough to buy more than a few. She could drink by herself all night with that, maybe enough to forget stirring up that hornet's nest even… but it wouldn't be enough to forget the look in his eyes before he came back, if he ever did.

"Way to go, you dumb blonde," she muttered to herself.

With a sigh, and deliberate effort, Yang pushed herself up and made to follow.

/

End Seventh Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

I dunno about you, but- Loser: Yang.

Tomorrow, things change. Do they get better? Do they get worse? I'll leave that tantalizingly, and tauntingly, ambiguous... for now.

Instead, let's celebrate a milestone- this fic has found its first C2 community! The Pancakes Vault, a story collection dedicated to the greatest, you guessed it...

Naruto fanfiction.

No joke. Yay?

Also not a joke- if this chapter doesn't register as an 'update' for some people, it's because for FFN purposes chapters have to be 24+ hours apart from eachother to register as separate day updates. At 23- hours, it gets wonky. Unfortunately I have to leave early, and don't want to be dragging on later than usual. Hopefully there's no problem, but I've had it in the past.


	8. Eighth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

She stilled when she found him. He wasn't too far away- hadn't truly left yet- but he was still further than she wanted. Off to the side, leaning over a metal fence with both arms, looking up at the night sky where what few stars there were struggled to be seen against the street lights. Jaune was looking off, at the semi-shattered moon rising over the horizon.

Yang took a breath and approached, sliding in beside him and leaning onto the same metal fence with her left arm and looking at the same moon with him, rather than at him. He had to know of her presence, but made no move to recognize it as a tension settled between them.

"Hey," she managed first.

"Hey," he returned. Strangely, he was the one who didn't let the silence return. "Sorry for snapping at you," he added, beating her to the punch.

"Sorry for scoffing at you," Yang returned. "I didn't mean to, it's just…"

"I don't hate her," Jaune interrupted, maybe wanting to speak more than her. "Or you," he added, shooting her a brief glance before looking back at the moon. "It's just… I've always been this way, don't you think? Had this flaw of caring too much."

"How so?" Yang asked, though she might as well have asked 'how is that a flaw?'

Jaune sighed. "I always get carried away when it comes to things like this. Knowing what to feel. Fall harder than I should, even when I shouldn't. Don't know when I should, or shouldn't. Weiss gives one fake flirt, and once I realize she's not just a jerk to Ruby I think she's serious and convince myself I have to love her. Pyrrha kisses me right before she dies, and I spend the rest of the year and then some wondering what could have been. Everything in the middle happened, and then Ruby at the end, and I just…"

He shook his head. "Why can't life lessons be obvious? Weiss taught me I shouldn't assume someone was interested just because of a simple flirt. Pyrrha taught me not to dismiss the possibility out of hand. Ruby taught me…" he sighed, but finished. "I still don't know what Ruby taught me. Not to believe someone's serious unless they come out and say it first?"

Yang frowned.

Jaune sighed. "I don't know, Yang. What do you think?"

"I don't think it's a flaw," Yang said, not looking at him. "Not really."

"Hurts enough to be one," Jaune muttered.

"You're just unlucky," Yang said. "If Weiss had given you a chance, you'd have probably surprised her, in a good way. That sort of single-mindedness never would have let you flirt with other girls, or get scared off by her family, or put off by her being… well, Weiss. And if Pyrrha hadn't died, you'd have made her so happy that you'd be drowning in babies by now. So many babies," she said with an only half-forced laugh. "You're the sort of guy who'd be happy spending the rest of his life making someone else happy. That is not a bad thing, if it's for the right person ready to accept it," she opined. "Ruby just… Ruby wasn't ready for anything after the first night."

And probably still wasn't, considering how her first time had turned out.

Jaune might have caught that as well. "You saying it was my fault?" he asked, surprisingly neutral in tone.

"I'm saying you wanted different things," Yang clarified, not judging. "You were expecting things to change. She didn't want them to. It…" Yang shook her head again. "It was a mistake. I should have stopped her. Or at least made her be clear about what she wanted."

"You knew?" Jaune asked.

"I'm her big sister and we were her team. What did you expect?" Yang asked. "It was senior year. She was the last virgin on RWBY. She was nervous of when, if, how she might lose hers. Then Blake and Weiss…" she shook her head. "They thought it'd be a good idea. Someone safe. Of _course_ they didn't mean their own boyfriends. They didn't know, and I-"

"You?" Jaune prompted.

"She's my sister and I love her very much, Jaune, even when she screws up," Yang said as a matter of fact. "If I hadn't thought it'd mean more to her than it did - if I hadn't believed she was worried- If I hadn't known you'd try and treat her right…" she frowned. "I thought it was my job, as a friend and a sister, to stay quiet and support her."

"You? Quiet? About what?"

Yang looked at him with a well-worn smile, like someone in on an exclusive joke.

"There was someone interested in you back then," she admitted.

Jaune looked back in surprise, locking eyes for the first time since they'd stepped out.

"I never knew," he admitted.

Yang snorted. "Tell me about it," she said with a wry grin. "No one else did either. It was hardly obvious. Even I was surprised when I realized, but…" another wry grin, a bit thinner came up. "When Ruby started showing interest, I made sure she wouldn't get in the way."

Jaune was quiet for a bit, thinking back. "I remember us hanging out a lot more back then," he recalled, "but I can't think of anyone else who tried to confess." Had she been sticking close as a deterrence?

"She never did," Yang said, turning away and looking at the broken moon again rather than him. "She wasn't the sort to say that sort of thing straight out either. Still, after Ruby, I tried to hook you up with her. Hoped it might help with… everything."

"Was that… the night you took me drinking?" Jaune broached.

The one and only night, right at the end, the night before an almost-miserable graduation. Where despite the accomplishments and the presence of family, a bunch of barely bound friends had walked across the stage, given their sincere congratulations around awkward well-wishes, and then he'd made an excuse about family and left early and hadn't seen some of them since.

He remembered Yang looking miserable as she'd nursed a hangover that day. They'd barely spoken. She'd been nothing like the girl who dragged him from bar to bar the night before. Trying to encourage him not to give up, sure that he might find happiness at the next bar, or the next, or the next, increasingly anxious each time as the hours ticked away. They'd barely spoken since… since…

"She chickened out to the end," Yang explained, not looking at him as she said it. "Sorry," she added, looking at him briefly with additional sincerity.

"Don't apologize," Jaune said, looking at the moon with her. "It was… things were difficult back then. I was a mess. But bad as I was, I wasn't looking for, well…"

"A rebound," Yang said without emotion.

"Yang, that's ancient history. I've forgotten that conversation," he claimed with a deliberate smile.

She didn't say anything at first. Maybe that said something louder than words ever could.

"She wasn't supposed to be a rebound," Yang said eventually, looking at the broken moon. "She was supposed to stay. Follow you, even. I thought… I thought it could've turned things around. Made you both happy. Instead she missed her chance."

"Missed a lot of moping, more like," Jaune laughed self-depreciatingly.

Yang shook her head. "I know moping, Jaune. What I did after losing my arm? That was moping. You? You were trying to move forward after having your heart ripped out and broken. You might not have been graceful… but you were trying."

"You make it sound like I was something other than a mess," Jaune said.

"Some girls like dirty boys," Yang weakly joked. "Makes cleaning up that much more fun."

"Yeah, right," Jaune said, smiling a little bit none the less. "Or maybe they just have pity."

"That's not me." Yang denied it with exceptional finality, before sighing and getting back on topic. "You were down, but trying to move on. If anyone sulked, it was her."

"The girl you tried hooking me up with?" Jaune clarified.

"She got cold feet and just watched you walk away. Coward," Yang reflected with disdain.

"Sounds like she could have taken a page out of your book," Jaune said idly while looking at the moon.

Yang stilled. She didn't say anything at first, just shot him a questioning glance from the side of her eye.

Jaune shrugged, still looking at the moon. "If she was afraid to talk to me, she should have just taken a page out of your book," he repeated. "You're many things, Yang, but being afraid of social awkwardness isn't one of them. You're, like, one of the bravest people I know."

Yang chuckled. "Am I?" she asked.

Jaune glanced at her from the side as well. "Aren't you?" he asked sincerely.

"Give me a Grimm or a gang or a whole bunch of punks and sure, bring it on. But something that really hits close to home?" she shook her head. "When was the last time you saw me really invested in someone, Jaune? Openly. And no, Ruby doesn't count."

Jaune considered. "Blake," he answered. "There was a time when there were rumors about you two, but-"

"Strange how you don't need to be in love with someone to like and worry about them. Crazy, right?" Yang chuckled. "And yeah, that's about it- but that's my point. My friends. My team. My family. How often did you ever hear me actually say I was really into someone else?" she asked.

"Never," Jaune realized. "In fact, I don't even remembering you going after anyone freshmen year at all."

"Right," Yang agreed. "It's not like I'm never into someone. I'm just… I'm great as a friend. I'll be your confidant all day, keep your secrets and give you the honest feedback you need whether you want it or not. But the moment it's the other way around?" She shook her head. "I've been keeping my own secrets and faking that everything's fine since Ruby was five. Sometimes I get called out on it. But when I'm not it's just… easier to play things close to the chest, rather than just say it. Friendship is one thing, but when comes to anything closer…"

"You're just protecting yourself."

"Am I? Or am I just lying to everyone?"

"You don't think you're being honest?" Jaune realized.

"With myself? Totally honest. Everyone else?" she laughed. "You didn't even know I was interested in someone until I told you. Just coming out and saying it? That's just so _lame_ ," she complained like a teenager, before looking off more morosely. "If he said it first, it'd be another thing. I could say it then. But if I have to say it first, and he doesn't believe me… that's a recipe for heart break."

"Whereas Ruby didn't tell me, and broke my heart instead," Jaune contrasted. Yang's already wane smile thinned, and Jaune sighed. "Never mind," he tried moving on. "That, uh, a regular problem? Not being believed?"

"Flirting's easy, for the guys who can take a hint and don't need things spelled out," Yang said. "The ones who do, though…" it was her turn to sigh. "When you have the reputation of being a flirt, they tend not to believe you're sincere."

"I've never thought you lied about who or what you liked," Jaune vouched loyally.

She gave him a torn smile. "Lie? No. But I'm not entirely honest either. Not when I keep ducking the point I know I have to make directly," she said with another sigh, staring at the cracked and crumbling moon. She gave a bitter laugh. "I really don't like that about myself."

"I don't care," Jaune countered, and Yang's breathing stilled without meaning too. Maybe it was a bit too strong, or stronger than he meant, but Jaune rolled with it.

"You're worried that you're not as open about your feelings as everything else? So what? You're still better than most people I know. Even you're allowed to be shy about some things, Yang," he ruled, before he shot her a cheeky grin. "Besides," he added, "my mom used to say that actions speak louder than words anyway."

Yang remembered to breathe when she needed the air to laugh. And laugh she did- surprised at first, but then leaning back to laugh deeper into the night. It probably wasn't that funny- in fact, it wasn't- but somehow… somehow having _anything_ to laugh about right now seemed like a relief.

"Wow," she said, wiping a tear with her left hand when she finally calmed down enough to breathe again. "Wow, Jaune," she repeated, chuckling again. "I almost thought you were being deep for a moment, and then you had to throw in a mention to your mom."

"What can I say?" Jaune smiled, glad the mood had lightened and not even a little put off by the 'almost.' "I had an awesome mom."

"No argument there," Yang agreed, recalling a brief meeting senior year… and the contrast with her own. "Still… isn't it a bit late in life to be citing her?"

"I'll stop repeating her advice when it stops being true," Jaune said claimed without apology.

A more comfortable silence fell as they looked back towards the moon, and maybe the night felt a bit warmer now. A warm breeze blew, not quite making Yang wish for her jacket, even as she rubbed her arm right above the prosthetic. A nervous habit she'd picked up after, when she had something on her mind but didn't want to broach it.

Jaune knew it too. He knew her too well, in some ways. "What is it?" he eventually asked.

Yang gave a smile, transparently mixed. "Just thinking," she said. "About what you said. Actions and words," she forced out.

"What is it?" Jaune repeated, not making it any easier for her.

She sighed, but not bitterly. "The elephant in the room. Been dancing around it all night," she admitted.

Jaune stilled, and a bit of the period of warmth subsided again. "This related to why you just so happened to be in my part of town tonight?" he asked.

"Partly," Yang admitted, not looking at him. "It's… something I need to get out. Been meaning to for a while."

"Not sure how to say it?" Jaune asked.

"Pretty sure I won't like the answer," Yang said.

Jaune didn't say anything at first, and she let a more uncomfortable silence fall.

"…would it help if I answered anyway, if I knew what you were trying to say?" Jaune eventually offered.

"You know what? It really would," Yang said after a moment. "You could save me years of suspense," she said, not daring to look at him.

He sighed. He stood. He gripped the rail with both hands and leaned back, as far as he could. And eventually, after much suspense, he gave his answer.

"I'm not going back to the reunion with you," Jaune said.

Yang stilled for a moment.

And then another.

Before letting loose a sigh and relaxing her shoulders.

"Can't say I didn't expect that," she admitted, neither surprised or disappointed.

He didn't say he was sorry. She wouldn't have believed it if he had.

"There's nothing I can do to change your mind, is there?" she asked.

"Not unless you know how to make a guy fall out of love," Jaune said, suggesting the impossible. "I'm not going back until I'm over it. Not even for you." He gave her a sad smile. "Sorry to waste your time, Yang, even though you came all the way out here."

"What about Ruby," Yang asked, looking at him directly. "Would you go back for Ruby?"

Jaune flinched. "Low blow," he muttered, not daring to hope. "And why would she want me to go back?" he asked instead.

"Because she's feels bad about it. Because it hurts her that it still hurts you, and you running away from her only makes it worse. Because it's been nearly five years, and she wants to apologize and see you back with everyone else and try and make things right again. Because-"

Yang softened, just a bit, as she reached down and pulled out her scroll, holding it with her thumb ready to dial. "Because she wants to make up with you. If not for us- if not for me- would you do it for her?" she asked softly. "For Ruby?"

Jaune closed his eyes and took a breath to compose himself. "No," he managed. "Not even for Ruby."

Yang's arm dropped, just like the rest of her. "Why?" Yang wanted to know.

"I promised myself I wouldn't go back until I could look Ruby in the eye, smile, and mean it."

"Stubborn dolt," Yang muttered. "You still could have called."

"Sorry," Jaune said, and he at least had the grace to sound it. "I didn't want to make things awkward or difficult."

"Did it ever occur to you we might have preferred that?" Yang asked. "Because we're you're friends? Because I-" she cut herself off a word too late.

"Sorry," Jaune said again, though this time he meant it. "I know I made things difficult for you. Getting stuck cleaning our mess- trying cheer up Ruby after-"

Yang growled, and reached up at her hair with her left hand as if to pull it. "Idiot," she snapped, a hint of real anger finally simmering. "It's not all about Ruby. I'm not all about Ruby. We do have other friends, and more people have been affected by this than just the two of you."

"I- I didn't think about that," Jaune admitted.

"I could tell," Yang snapped again.

"Sorry," Jaune apologized.

"You are," Yang continued, simmering. "Stubborn, stupid, and ignorant too," she added for good measure.

Jaune sighed, and pushed away from the railing finally. "We're fighting again. I don't want to fight with you again," he admitted. "Not tonight. Why don't we call it quits here and go our separate ways?" he suggested.

Yang's fire dimmed. "Jaune," she began, starting to reach out.

He gave Yang a smile so wide and forced he didn't have to look her in the eyes.

"It was good to see you again, Yang," he said sincerely enough. "Sorry you came all the way out here for nothing. Give everyone my regards," he said, before turning away from the railing and walking toward the exit to the street.

A few long strides and he was behind her, and past her, and onto the street.

/

End Eighth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And a swing and a miss. What's it going to be- three strikes and you're out, or third time's the charm?

So, by now, most of the dynamics are more or less laid bare. If you figured it all out before now... well, good. Intent was for gradual foreshadowing (or would it be backshadowing?) to give the rough idea before the actual conflict laid it bare. However much you gleaned, or not, was your own reward- and honestly, one of the advantages to popcorn-style posting. It's pretty hard to encourage speculation is the answer is posted along with everything else on the first day.

Chapter break for this chapter was a bit tricky, considering how this one ends and the next one picks up. There's two appropriate break points, really- where it ends here, and Jaune's answer to Yang's unspoken question. (See? He's not _totally_ oblivious.) Ended up going with this break because, well, who would really believe Jaune was actually right at this point in the story?

More to come, obviously. Stay tuned tomorrow.


	9. Ninth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

Step step step, smile never failing.

 ** _Step step step_** _._

Step step step, swallowing a familiar guilt and home-sickness as he walked away from a vestige of Beacon once more.

 ** _Step step step._**

Step step step, idle thoughts of finding another bar, tempered by a cynical certainty it wouldn't help tonight.

 ** _Step step step._**

Step step… stop, right in the middle of the sidewalk.

 ** _Step step… stop._**

"I thought you were upset at me now," Jaune said, not looking behind him.

A flicker of flame and aura told him he wasn't quite wrong.

"I don't want to fight again," Jaune sighed. "Not again. Not tonight. Not with you."

Another flicker, deepening his own shadow.

"Yang," he sighed, "Stop following me. I don't think-"

A single arm reached out and pulled, twisting his mass with ease. Before he even caught his balance the same hand gripped the tip of his shirt and pulled him down.

Down? It was strange to think that in his slightly inebriated state. Strange to remember that as strong as she was, she was smaller than him. Not just in height. He'd always been tall, but he'd also grown out as he'd leveled up. He was a grown man, and hardly a scrawny one. Yet she could still drag him around with ease when she wanted. Like right now, when she dragged him right against her to glare at him face to face.

"You don't think," she growled inches from him looking up, even as he was already looking down and past her rather than meet those red eyes. "And that's annoying. Did you ever ' _think'_ I might be upset because I _didn't_ follow you last time?" she demanded as he looked further down. "Is it really that hard to think of how we feel every year, remembering the last time we saw you was when you walked away from us?"

"Yang-" Jaune began to say.

"Shut up," Yang said, not willing to let her grip falter. "I've been waiting five years to say this, and there's nothing so important you can't wait-"

"Your hand," Jaune said.

It was so out of left field it made Yang lose her rhythm. She didn't understand at first. "No, that doesn't count. You-"

"No, your hand," Jaune repeated, ignoring her righteous anger and focusing on her right hand, which was dangling at her side. "What's wrong with it?"

The fist of flesh and blood below his chin let go of his shirt and reflexively reached down against the prosthetic, covering the unsightly scars where flesh met metal. Yang unconvincingly suppressed a grimace. Jaune didn't frown at all, except when he shot her a questioning look.

"You haven't used your right arm for anything for awhile now," Jaune realized, thinking of all the gestures she'd made with her left. "What's the wrong with it?" he asked in a tone that, while concerned, also made clear it wouldn't accept any lies.

It was Yang's turn to avoid his gaze, even as she wondered how he'd stolen control of the conversation from her. "It's nothing important," Yang claimed, rubbing the joining.

"It's your hand. It's important," Jaune reasoned, reaching down and lifting it up by the wrist for a closer inspection. The arm raised, but the wrist flipped backward, awkwardly, unnaturally. Jaune simply looked at her, waiting for a response.

"Shards," she grudgingly admitted, trying for matter-of-fact rather than shame at being hindered by something so simple. "When I broke that glass, some shards fell between the cracks and got stuck inside."

Jaune brought the palm closer, examining it closely without any hint of distaste or anything less than concern. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Not if I don't use it," Yang answered. "It just needs a simple cleaning. I could do it one-handed at the hotel room."

"Then why didn't you?" Jaune asked. Why hadn't she left already?

"Because I didn't want to make a big deal about it. Because I didn't want to spend the night alone fumbling with a cleaning kit. Because-" she sighed, and finally looked him in the eyes again with her own, eyes that shifted away from a formidable red to something softer, mixed.

"Jaune, is it really so hard to believe that I came and followed and am sticking around because I **_want_** to spend time with you?"

To his credit, he didn't ask why. Shards or no shards, she probably would have socked him if he had. He looked at her oddly instead.

"I would have stayed with you for that," he said softly. "Tonight, I mean."

Despite herself, Yang laughed. "Not quite how I want to keep a guy around," she shared, no more into pity than he. "Look Jaune, I'm not here to drag you back to the reunion. I'm not even here because Ruby asked me to, or because Blake kicked me out and threatened to not let me back unless I tried. I came, and stayed, and followed, because I want to. Because I-" she choked, stumbling, "because I- wooah, Jaune what are you doing?!" she exclaimed as she was pulled forward into a stumble.

Jaune didn't release her hand, or the gentle but insistent grip he'd taken. "Come on," he said, not looking back. "We're getting you fixed up. Then we're going back drinking. You still owe me a round or two."

"Jaune! It's no big deal," she protested, flushing a bit at being led around by the hand like a little girl. "We can just get drinks and-"

"Don't make me repeat myself," Jaune warned, looking ahead for something only he seemed aware of. "It's your hand. It's important." He gave a squeeze she could feel around her mechanical wrist, but it might as well have been around her neck for all that she could breath. "Come on, it'll be like old times," he cajoled, just before he took sharp right and pulled her into a narrow alley. "This'll do."

"Jaune what are you-" Yang began, before she was pushed against a wall and Jaune began kneeling down in front of her and reaching into his pocket.

Despite her lingering embarrassment, Yang couldn't help but laugh inside a little as the situation changed once more, this time for the better. The convenience of a seedy alley wasn't lost to her. "Is that a multi-tool in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

"Both," Jaune said simply, wiping off her shit-eating grin with effortless ease. Yang said nothing for a moment, shocked at the return, even before a bit of static electricity jumped between him and her hand.

"It really is good to see you again, Yang," Jaune repeated from earlier in the night, looking down as a well-worn tool opened up...

...and missing a softer smile on Yang's face as she watched him handle his tool and bring it towards her metallic palm.

"Now open up," Jaune commanded, beginning to twist for the first of a series of screws.

"For you, Jaune? Anything," Yang said with a willing sigh, leaning back and closing her eyes as she propped herself up against the wall and let him get to work.

A series of pops and hisses signaled when the external plate released, and despite the lack of nerves she could almost feel the breeze, and his breath, as she was uncovered. She definitely felt the finger that followed, and was unable to restrain a shiver as it lightly traced the outer edges of the opening.

"Aura conduit looks good," Jaune said aloud. "You should be getting feedback. How are the tactile sensors?" he asked before blowing in.

Yang shivered again, goosebumps rising. "I felt that," she said.

Jaune inspected closer. "I don't see any glass. I'll have to take off more and probe deeper," he warned.

"You shouldn't," Yang said, clearing her head enough to try and cover the access port with her other hand. "It's dirty."

"Just grease. Nothing I can't wash off," Jaune said as he pushed her hand away and took off another layer.

"I was- thinking about the alley," Yang claimed. "Your pants will get dirty if you keep kneeling like that," she warned.

"The cost of servicing a beautiful woman," Jaune joked. "They should be proud."

"You've always did talk sweet to the hand," Yang remembered with a smile.

"It's a good hand. Classy. I like it," Jaune said without shame, gingerly lifting the last plate needed to look at the intimate inner workings. "If I ever lost mine, I'd want one like it."

"Mechaphile," Yang shot, smiling down at him even so.

"Penny never really did it for me," Jaune denied, but he shot her a curious look even so. "Though I did always wondered why you didn't get an arm like hers, though," he admitted. "You wouldn't have to worry about grit and grime so much like with this model if you had a false skin," he said.

Yang looked down on her arm. Partially disassembled as it was, it was unmistakably inhuman and mechanical. Not that there was ever any doubt about the inorganic nature- even with the cords that looked like muscle sinew, the jet black color and metal plates alone…

"Normally it's not an issue. This is just my date night arm," Yang informed. "Ruby's made enough upgrades to main one that I don't have to worry about stuff like this, but it's also bulkier. It's a pain at times."

Jaune was quiet for a minute as he looked at the arm. A little more slender, a good deal lighter, and perfectly human proportioned. "Not quite what I meant," he admitted. "With Penny's arm, you could, well…" he trailed. Pass for normal, or at least un-maimed.

"I thought about it," Yang admitted. "Afterwards. Tried one briefly, when Ironwood made an offer, but it wasn't me."

"Wasn't you?" Jaune asked distractedly, as he worked more on the hand.

"It wasn't honest. Sure, I could pass for normal at first glance- probably could even hide the scars- but underneath?" She shook her head. "I'd know. And eventually, anyone else would too. I didn't want to pretend nothing had changed, or that I'm something I'm not."

"That's true. Good, even," Jaune weighed in. "You got better. You got stronger," he added.

"Metal hits harder than flesh," Yang agreed, remembering her first real brawl with a combat prosthetic.

"Not what I meant either," Jaune said again. "The old you stayed down. The new you got back up and," he couldn't help it, " _gave us a hand_ with Salem _._ "

She bopped him on the head with her other, which he was expecting. "That's my line. I even trademarked it for that endorsement deal. Leave the puns to the professionals, Jaune, or pay me royalties," she chided, before she winced and couldn't quite hold in a gasp.

Jaune paused in his ministrations and looked up. "Does it hurt?"

"Don't stop," Yang denied, shaking her head in answer. "It's just… tender." She shot him a shaky grin. "Been awhile since I had a guy's fingers inside me."

He rolled his eyes with a grin. "If you're good enough to tease, you're good enough to help," he ruled. "Light's not the best down here- you mind keeping my hair out of my eyes?" he asked as he fiddled with another wire.

"S…sure," Yang managed, slowly reaching out and brushing his bangs with her hand. Even as she held it back, letting a few more beams of street light illuminate his work, she idly played with it between her fingers. Every once in awhile her metallic fingers would twitch too- the sporadic effects of impulses and Jaune's efforts to tenderly clean the inner workings. Sometimes it hurt, just a little, and sometimes when he probed deeper…

"…what's it feel like?" Jaune asked as she shifted once again, filling the silence. "I know you get pressure feedback with your hand, but…"

"It's different," Yang said. "It's not like my good," he tutted, and she corrected herself, "my other hand. I don't feel texture. I don't feel heat or cold. It's like… wearing a glove all the time, one that you can never take off. And right now, it's like there's an itch I can't scratch."

"I should have noticed earlier. Sorry," Jaune apologized, a hint of the shy guy she used to know coming back.

"Don't be," Yang said, patting him on the head with her free hand. "You're scratching my itch now. And besides, it's not all bad," she confided. "Things that would normally hurt are barely a buzz, just enough to register and get me to look at it. I don't have to worry about flinching at slimy stuff. And besides…" she gave a smile he couldn't see. "Feeling with aura is something else."

"Aura?" Jaune asked.

Yang closed her eyes and leaned back into the wall, a content expression on her face as he probed deeper. "Yeah, aura," she said. "Without it, it's just a thing- like a tool, or a computer. But when I let my aura go through it-" and she let a little more flow, enough that the black metal seemed to glow softly- "it's not a thing, it's an extension of me. Like Ember Cecelia, and then some. I mean, yeah, it's reinforced and dishes out more damage, but that's just what aura does anyway. When I just do it outside of a fight, it's like… like touching with my soul."

Jaune paused, curious. "Your soul?"

Yang shrugged, not willing to open her eyes or look down. "That's what aura is, right? It's all in your body normally, but I don't have an arm to play middlewoman anymore. So when I reach out, it's like feeling with my aura directly. It mingles. Brushes. Intertwines." She gave a slight groan. "You have no idea what it's like to feel people like that, Jaune. To feel who they really are. I can feel their aura, brush against the edges of their soul."

Jaune blinked. "Wow," he said, suitably impressed. "Wasn't expecting that. That much, huh?"

"You've no idea," Yang said. "You can't lie with something like that."

Jaune looked at her hand in his eyes, glowing dim and black. "I wonder what it'd be like if it someone else's aura was inside it," he mused, barely a hint of alcohol in his gaze. "Think I'm almost done- tell me how does this feel?" he asked.

Yang's eyes widened, but before she could answer him- before she could tell him or warn him or anything else- Jaune pumped enough aura into his hand to make it glow and slid it into the deepest crevice he could.

 _[WonderAweAdmirationCuriosityDistractionHurtDeepBuriedForgottenFriendPresentFocusFriendWonderWhatDoesSheFeelCuriousWhatDoesSheWantCertaintyFriendSuspicionSomethingElseWonderWhatPlatonicAffectionConnectionBrushWaitWhoIsThisWhatIsThereYangYangYANG?]_

Stars exploded behind Yang's eyes as pure, unfiltered aura-on-aura contact wracked her. She didn't black out- that much aura ensured it would be a white-out if anything- but if she hadn't already been leaning against the wall she would have been picking herself off the ground. Yang couldn't help it as her body, and not just her arm, gave a frightful spasm. All she could do was try to keep what was inside her in, even if it meant taking in everything that was him as well.

 _[CryPainConcernHurtMineIrrelevantHerImportantHerConcernConcernFEARHurtQuestionUncertaintyBloodNoNotThisTimeFearCan'tHaveDidItAgainPleaseNoPleaseNotHurtFriendNoNeverAgainNever-]_

"-ng. Yang!" Jaune was exclaiming, shaking her with one hand while the other remained painfully trapped in spasming machinery. "Yang!"

 _[GuiltFearFrightShameSelfloathingHurtFriendHurtHerNotAgainDon'tGoNeverAgainYangNoYangNeverNeverYangYangYANG!]_

Fireworks continued to go off in Yang's skull as the overload continued and she struggled to regain her faculties.

"Jaune," she croaked, reaching for his hand that was painfully stuck within her spasming palm. Only a strong aura was keeping his finger from being crushed, but the stronger the aura the stronger the sensations she was receiving. "Jaune!"

"Yang!" he exclaimed, hearing her.

 _[ReliefShameFortuneFailureJoyYangWholeGoodAgain **Guilt** ]_

"Jaune," she said again, mastering herself so she could master the feelings bombarding her and the seizure wracking her hand.

"Yang, I'm sorry!" he cried, his face reflecting the kaleidoscope of emotions behind his eyes, and not one tear threatening to fall being over the finger painfully wedged in her joints.

 _[SorryPromiseWordArcWordNeverGoBackNeverAgainPlease]_

" ** _Jaune!_** " Yang, reaching out and firmly grabbing the hand that was still stuck within hers. "Stop!" she demanded, trying to break the aura connection. "You have to stop! You're-"

 _[HurtingHerDroveHerAwayMyFaultAgainMyFaultNoNeverAgainNeverGoBackEverAgainPromised]_

"I'm not meaning to, I swear, I-"

She barely heard him over her gasp as she tried to pull his finger out. Tried to pull him out of her, without dragging anything else out as well. She almost managed, except for one final sensation of warm skin on-

 _[Empty sheets and the morning after.]_

She gasped, at a different sort of pain.

 _[Why, Ruby?]_

Jaune's finger was free. They were separated, and the aura connection broke. Jaune fell backwards on his bottom. Yang collapsed, finishing her slide against the wall until she too was sitting. For a moment they could say nothing, and just panted to catch their breath as they looked at each other and tried to speak. Tried to be the first to say what they thought was needed.

"Jaune," Yang struggled, trying first. She had to.

"Ya-" he tried, but he couldn't. Mustn't. Not yet. Not before she did.

"Jaune," she managed, chest heaving and heavily winded, but knowing she had to speak first even as his breath hitched to try again.

"Jaune. It's alright. I'm still here."

/

End Ninth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

Artistic liberties with lore? Perish the thought. Good read? Hope so.

And this round goes to...?


	10. Tenth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

Recovery took a little longer, but at least Jaune didn't look ready to bolt in fear. Or to try and find an ambulance. Stemming the flow of apologies would have been harder, had he had the breath to make them.

"Jaune, don't," Yang pre-empted once more, leaning back on her alley wall and looking to where he sat on his. "It's alright. It was just an accident."

Jaune frowned more, but his fright had since calmed. "You didn't say it hurt," he said, neither an excuse nor an accusation. "I didn't-"

"You didn't," Yang reassured, "because it didn't hurt. I just wasn't prepared. Normally it's not like that."

Normally it wasn't that strong, or that deep. Just a surface thing, with people she was more prepared to keep out. But then, it was Jaune, and Jaune had always had a larger than average aura, and it wasn't often another's aura was **_inside_** her own, rather than brushing up against her fingers...

She steadied her breathing, finally fully catching her wind. "Say it with me, Jaune," she insisted, looking him in the eye. "It wasn't your fault."

"It was-"

"It _wasn't_ your fault."

"But I-"

"It wasn't _your_ fault."

"But you-"

"This isn't about me. It's about you. Say it," she insisted.

Jaune grimaced, as if biting a sour lemon. "It wasn't my fault," he said like a good boy, before looking away and sneaking in a, "but I am sorry."

Yang gave a little laugh, trying to bring back the ease they'd had. "Fine. And that's your one apology- give me another one, and you'll regret it, got it?" she warned.

Jaune kept looking away rather than answer, so she chose to take silence as consent and filled the void herself.

"I'm not lying about it hurting," Yang said, because physically she felt worn but fine. "As far as close encounters of the more intimate kind go, that was far from the worst."

Jaune still didn't look at her, looking out the alley, but she could tell she had her attention.

"Yeah, it's actually a neat trick if I pull it off right," Yang continued. "If I do it right, I can feel what someone else feels- which is really, really handy. I can totally tell if someone is faking it, not that they ever do," she bragged.

Jaune smiled a bit, lips curling. "How selfless. I bet you don't get anything out of it at all."

Yang grinned back, glad he'd caught on. "Getting a good feedback loop is great- the better I do the better I feel. Just… don't ask me to help with delivering a baby," she said with a shiver, and even Jaune winced in sympathy. "Of course, it's even better with other Hunters," she added.

"How so?" Jaune asked, drawn back to looking at her even as she took the turn to look out the front.

"You should know," she prompted. "Aura mingling is a too way street. Do it right and it goes both ways, and you can feel what I feel." She paused. "Did you, uh, see anything during all that?" she asked, uncommonly awkward.

Jaune shook his head. "Not really," he said, and she released a breath. "For a moment I started to- the metal started feeling soft and warm, and I could feel your aura pulse… but then you realized what was happening, and I felt a flash of fear and everything slammed down at once."

"That, uh, might have been my hand spasm," Yang claimed. "My arm can go haywire if the aura flow messes up. Not the best kind of pinching," she said, as if he didn't already have the bruised finger to prove it. "Sorry," she added.

"No fair," Jaune protested, but with a slight smile. "If I can't apologize, you can't either."

"Call it my freebie, then," Yang said, beginning to smile more easily. "But I mean it when I said you didn't hurt me. I was just overwhelmed. It wasn't a bad one."

"What's bad like, then?"

Yang frowned, and Jaune realized he'd asked a bad question.

"Never mind. You don't have to-"

"Bad is when you brush by someone in the hallways, and realize they they're creeped out just to be touching you," Yang admitted. "Bad is. Bad is knowing exactly what the other person thinks about you, even as they say something else. Bad is when you're with someone, and you realize that just the sight of your arm is a turnoff. Bad is the first time you go through that, and the other person thinks you're crazy _and_ crippled and having a fit."

Jaune hissed, but Yang waved off any apology or sympathetic anger. "It was awhile ago. I dealt," she said.

"You shouldn't have had to," Jaune said. "It's not fair."

"The world's not fair. That's why we have jobs," the young huntress returned. "Was it hard? Sure. Was it fun? Hardly. Especially after Cinder. I thought I was good- thought everything would be back to normal after we beat her and Salem- but 'normal' changed. _I_ changed."

She leaned her head back and laughed in spite of the past, not because of it.

"I thought that when we all got back to Beacon, I'd celebrate by partying and picking up the guys. When we did get back, I thought tastes had changed. But they hadn't." She looked at her arm- still partially disassembled- and moved her fingers, watching the inner workings move as well. Jaune grimaced in distaste, but not at her.

Never at her.

"It was a wakeup call," Yang admitted. "I thought I was fine because I'd gotten back on my feet enough to fight with one arm. I thought I got better when I had two again. It was like taking back what Adam took away. But living with it?" She shook her head. "That was a whole other challenge. I always used to think of myself as one part big sister, one part fighter, and one part looker. Everyone could agree with that. But when suddenly a lot of people would disagree…" she chuckled. "Losing part of my sense of self felt like losing a part of myself, all over again. I was stronger that time, but it still hurt."

"I never knew," Jaune admitted, shaking his head in sorrow. "You always seemed so cheerful around us, once we were all back together."

"I was," Yang said. "Probably because we were all together. You helped."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, a silent question, and Yang answered while looking at her arm.

"You asked what bad was like. Good, though…" she smiled to herself, fondly. "Good is when after someone flinches, someone else moves a bit closer. Good is when you fight and every punch isn't fear or fright, but admiration or even envy. Good is when you offer a hand to help, and someone takes it thinking that it's a good, strong grip." She smile softened even more, her voice barely a whsiper. "Good is when someone feels it for the first time and doesn't think 'she's crippled,' but 'good, she's back, she's better.'"

"The guy you like?"

"Huh?" Yang started, coming back to the present.

"That last one. The guy you still like? From Beacon?" Jaune asked.

Yang paused for a moment, breath catching. "...yeah," she admitted, lowering her eyes.

Jaune didn't say anything for the longest moment. Instead he sighed, and stood up, and walked over to her before kneeling in front of her. "Give it to me," he said, holding out his hand.

"Huh?" Yang said, not comprehending.

"Your hand. Give me your hand," he repeated.

Yang did, slowly, uncertainly.

"I need to finish cleaning and putting you back together," Jaune reminded.

"Oh," she said, and complied, unable to describe the change in the air between them as Jaune began to carefully work. "Right."

"Yang?" Jaune asked. "I need to use some aura for light- just a little. Is that alright?"

"Alright," Yang consented. "Just let me prepare myself," she said, before taking a deep breath, and letting go. Her metal shined again- a bit brighter, but also guarded, ready to filter something other than raw emotion.

 _[Gentle, soft, barely brushing. The softest sort of pressure, wanting to be let in, wanting to help.]_

"Alright Jaune," she said, steeling her heart and giving him permission. "I'm ready."

He fingers shined, a small light in the dark night and darker alleyway that lasted a short while before-

 _[CautionHesitanceConcern. He wants to help, but doesn't know how. Doesn't want to hurt.]_

"Just say it, Jaune," she said, without opening her eyes.

"I saw something. I think," Jaune managed. "During our… moment. Even if you didn't mean me to. Sorry," he apologized, but Yang didn't admonish him. She was too busy holding her breath as his fingers moved inside of her. "You felt a bit of me, and I felt…" He shook his head. "I don't know what I felt, or how to describe it. But I recognized it. Longing. Regret. A sense of missed opportunities. I'm not the only one who can't let go, am I?" he asked.

 _[QuestionFalseCertainty. He already knows.]_

"Not for lack of trying," Yang admitted, even as she flexed her metallic hand and squeezed his in a tentative test.

 _[I can feel you. If you could feel me, would you finally understand?]_

"Then don't," Jaune said, looking intently at her hand and inhuman joints, trying to spot any deficiency that might hurt her. "I know- I know I may not be the best person to say this, that I don't have the grounds to, but don't give up, Yang. We're not in the same boat. I- Ruby won't return my feelings. I don't need aura-mixing to know that. But yours might. Whoever it is, they might still accept you."

 _[SincereAppealTrust. Believe Me]_

Yang sighed.

 _[Impossible.]_

"It's been years, Jaune," Yang reminded. "Believe me when I say it's never crossed his mind. I'm not a little girl anymore, pining because the boy I like doesn't notice me."

 _[Xiao Longs for so much more.]_

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

 _[LongingEmptinessFulfillment. Does he love another?]_

"There's another girl on his mind."

 _[Yes.]_

"Is he married?"

 _[LongingEmptinessSorrow. Is he happy?]_

"…No."

 _[No.]_

"Then you still have a chance."

 _[HopeSelflessSacrifice. Hope for you, if not for me.]_

"Jaune, I…"

 _[Don't tell me that.]_

"Yang, he has to do something right if you're holding out after all this time. What's so good about him?"

 _[QuestionChallengeHonor. What makes him worthy?]_

"Nothing, really. He's decent, sure, but he's stubborn, foolish, and silly..."

 _[Almost everything. He's brave, loyal, and true. He makes me smile.]_

"He's also kind of an idiot."

 _[He's also an idiot.]_

Jaune smiled. "Sounds like your kind of guy, then."

 _[ProudSmugAware. You can't fool me.]_

"No, really. If he were any denser, he'd have satellites. He's a whole other level of clueless."

 _[I don't need to.]_

Jaune laughed.

 _(Simple, clear, like wind chimes on a warm moon-lit night, simple and pure as sincere days of guileless youth and endless smiles. A familiar longing to hear, and share, and hear again.)_

"I thought we already agreed he'd have to be to not go after you?" he asked.

 _[HappinessTrustConfidance. A belief shared between friends.]_

Yang smiled despite herself. "True, but…" she caveated, as if making a great grudging concession. "He's honest, and sincere, and always tries to help others even if he causes them trouble. He never stared at me. He always treated me like everyone else, even after…" she traced her scars.

 _[He made me feel whole, wanted, even if I wasn't.]_

Jaune smiled. "Sounds like we have a winner, then. To echo an old friend, you should go and tell him how you feel."

 _[PartnerAdmirationHonor. Pyrrha would agree. You are worthy.]_

Yang laughed, bitterly. "I have. I tried. I couldn't."

 _[I'm not.]_

"Why not?"

 _[CertaintyKnowledgeFamiliarity._ _You are.]_

"Did I mention he was clueless yet?"

 _[He wouldn't believe me.]_

"That's him. What's your excuse?" Jaune asked, looking up from his work.

 _[StalwartDisbelievingUnyielding. Don't lie to me.]_

"…I can't say it, alright? No matter how many times I approach it I just… can't."

 _[I'm afraid.]_

"Then don't."

 _[SimpleReasonableReverse. Don't be.]_

"You just said-"

 _[…?]_

"Don't say it. Try something else then," Jaune said.

 _[TrustFaithOpen. Be honest with him.]_

"You think I haven't tried? The guy is oblivious! You could talk about him to his face without him realizing it!"

 _[I can't say it. I never will.]_

"Then keep trying until he has no choice. Until he realizes it's about him and not someone else," Jaune insisted.

 _[SupportPersistEndure. Don't quit.]_

"We're just talking in circles. I give up," she muttered, trying to take her hand back.

 _[I just can't. It's too close to my heart.]_

Jaune didn't let go.

"Bullshit."

 _[Bullshit.]_

Yang stilled at the feeling of real anger, but not one aimed at her. It filled her, warmed her, even as his words heated up the cooling night air.

"The Yang Xiao Long I know wouldn't give up after one failure, or five, or five hundred," Jaune said. "When she was faced with a challenge she couldn't beat, she kept at it until she could. When people said there were things she couldn't do again, she proved them wrong!"

 _[AweAdmirationAffection. You impressed me. You've always impressed me. I believe in you.]_

"The Yang Xiao Long I knew could do anything she set her mind to, and would do anything she wanted to! She didn't quit for or give up on anyone!"

 _[ImpossiblePossible **Yang**. Even if no one else can, my Yang can.]_

"And what if she ran into a brick wall so thick and so high even she couldn't get over it?" Yang asked softly. "What would your Yang Xiao Long do then?"

 _[What should I do?]_

"She'd break through," Jaune said with absolute certainty. "She'd keep attacking, over and over, until she made a crack and claimed her prize on the other side."

 _[YangTriumphInevitability. Be yourself.]_

Yang looked at him. Just… looked at him.

"You think I should take him by force?" she asked, not quite believing him.

 _[_ _ _What if he doesn't?_ What if he doesn't want me?]_

Jaune blinked, moment of tranquil fury and determination passing into confusion. "I meant keep flirting until you found the one that worked, actually," he said. "You are the mistress of pickup lines, aren't you?"

 _[ConfusionUncertaintyImpossibility. How could he not?]_

Yang laughed, so sincerely she almost cried.

 _(Warmth, billowing, like an oven furnace, but instead of char clean and comforting. A never-ending burn, not harming but full of life and love and desire.)_

"Alright, Jaune," she agreed, chuckling. "I won't give up. For you."

 _[You win.]_

Jaune relaxed. "Good," he said. "He should be at the reunion, right?"

 _[PleasureReliefHope. Be happy, Yang. If you can, maybe I-]_

"He should be," Yang admitted.

 _[I'll try.]_

Jaune nodded to himself, removing his hand and beginning to re-attach the metal plates of her arm. His aura began to fade- hers still faintly shined as he turned his attention back to her.

"Then tomorrow, I want you to promise me that you'll find him and tell him what you feel. Swear it."

 _[PromisesUnbreakableEternal. Never go back, never again.]_

Yang stilled. "If I haven't been able to say it straight out yet…"

 _[But Jaune, I still don't know how.]_

He stilled for a moment as he placed the plate back over the hand, holding onto her hand for a brief moment even though his aura had faded. "Then say something else. Do whatever you need to convince him. Actions speak louder than words, right?"

 _[FadingDepartureResignation. You're leaving me. I know that. But I can be happy for you.]_

"That's what they say," Yang said. "Though they usually aren't punching when they say it."

 _[How can I make him believe me?]_

"Pound away anyway until he gets it, then," Jaune said, putting her arm back together. "And if he's so stupid it doesn't work out…"

 _[MisfortuneLonelinessShared. If you end up like me…]_

"If it doesn't work out?" Yang echoed.

 _[Jaune, please, tell me how.]_

"Then come back to me, and I'll treat you to a night on the town to drown your sorrows."

 _[SympathyFavorReturned. I'll be here for you, like you were for me.]_

Yang sighed, and let her aura fade.

"Only if you buy drinks to celebrate too," Yang returned, opening her eyes again.

Jaune paused as he put back on another plate. "So I'm buying you drinks either which way?"

"Only way I'm making this promise with you," Yang conditioned. "Though I'll buy all the drinks until I confess, if you want."

Jaune laughed. "It's a deal- oh, and no more sad stuff, alright? Tonight's already been enough of a roller coaster," he admitted.

Yang held up the hand that wasn't finished being finished, as if she were swearing an oath. "I, Yang Xiao Long, promise not to bring up any more mopey stuff, and that I will buy Jaune Arc drinks until I confess," she said in a childish imitation of a Junior Huntress Scout.

"Nice, if not quite how I would have phrased it," Jaune smiled, patting the back of her hand again as the last plate secured. "Now you just need keep your word," he said, letting her hand drop from his now that it was done.

Yang kept it up just a little while longer, to show him her once-again dexterous fingers. "See? Not even crossing my fingers."

Jaune laughed, offering her a hand as he stood. "I've never pegged you for a liar," he reminded. And she wasn't- she just didn't always say what she was thinking.

Yang took his hand to stand as well, before arching her back with both hands above her head as she stretched. "Well, that was a thing. And I'm thirsty. How about we start hitting on bars again?"

"What time do you need to be up tomorrow to catch a ship to the reunion?" Jaune asked.

"Don't worry about that," Yang waved away. "Tomorrow's a long ways off. Besides, I need to work on my pickup lines. Come on," she urged.

"Wait a second, Yang, I'm not ready!" Jaune cried fumbling with one hand to put his tool back in his pants. "Give me a minute here!"

"Well, get ready. I've waited long enough already," Yang said, pearly whites visible as she gave a cheeky grin. "Besides, I'm going to need your help," she claimed, tugging him to get him moving.

Jaune laughed, and complained, and groused all in one. "Geeze, Yang, save some for your guy tomorrow," he said, catching up and walking on his own.

"Don't worry, I will," Yang said, showing off her canines once more. Jaune shivered in mock-horror, and then shivered again as a thought crossed his mind.

"Yang? One thing," he said, stopping.

"What is it?" she asked.

Jaune paused. "It… the guy you like..."

"It's not Cardin, is it?"

Yang paused.

"How did you…" she began, dumb struck

He stared at her, certainty creeping into his eyes.

And then she laughed.

"Me? And Cardin? How did you get that?" she completed, laughing aloud.

"Whew," Jaune breathed out, relaxing. "Good. I know he's changed a lot since then, but... whew," he sighed again. "I wasn't going to judge- we've all changed- but... remember how he tried to apologize to Velvet? This would have been even _weirder._ " He shook his head. "That would have been completely unexpected."

"Tell me about it. Like one of those lame plot twists from Blake's books," Yang laughed again, leaning against the wall. She smiled at him, and pointed a finger at his nose.

And then flicked him.

"But no. It's not Cardin. And don't bother asking if it's everyone else you can think of either, cause that's the only hint you're getting, buster," she warned.

"Eh, fine fine," Jaune agreed. "I'll figure it out sooner or later," Jaune shrugged, beginning to walk forward and past her. Yang may have muttered something under her breath, but if she did he didn't catch it. "Come on," he said instead, stepping out of the alley. "I know another place this way."

Jaune walked ahead to show her the way to the next bar. For a moment- but only for a moment- Yang watched him walk away again without following.

"Jaune?" she called.

He stopped.

"Yeah, Yang?" he asked, turning to look back at her.

She smiled, eyes closed but entirely sincere.

"I'm glad we had this heart-to-heart."

/

End Tenth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And this round's winner is...

So, two brief thoughts. One on aura-mixing as a story mechanic, one on pace of the story.

When introducing a non-canon mechanic, it always pays to be careful. One of the best ways is to not directly contravene lore. There's nothing to say aura-mixing happens... but there's nothing saying it can't happen either. It's in that nebulous 'headcanon' realm that's open to interpretation. Personally, since aura is supposed to be tied to emotions and spirit, I like to think that aura could be a sort of surface-level empathy of sorts. Yang's aura turning into fire being one obvious sort, Cinder's ability to subtly threaten to burn people alive by touching them another. Surface-level empathy, of sorts. It's a personal piece of head canon non-canon, and I let it dangle in my mind for various concepts.

But what's important, when introducing it in a story, is to not just make it a one-time thing or a quick-fix. One time-things are plot devices, or quick fixes, rather than integral parts of the story. I've been guilty of the sin myself, but to make something a part of a story and not just a hand-wave it needs to show up multiple times. Here, we see another application of aura-mixing- something softer, restrained, more significant. It re-emphasizes the role, and the presence, while maintaining consistency. If you ever introduce non-canon elements key to a story, own it. Don't just use it once and never think of it again

On the point of where we are in the story... if you've been keeping track of wordcount, we're already halfway through. In a 7-beat romance outline, we've just gotten through Beat 3- the initial conflict. Backstory is revealed, tensions raised, and things are swell! So look forward to smooth sailing, folks, and take ease that I'm at the helm. It's not like I'd _ever_ steer you wrong, right?

If you fear I will, or just want to comment on the chapter, feel free to leave a review.


	11. Eleventh Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[The first hour started awkward.]

"So, what do you want help with?" Jaune asked as they slid into a booth in another bar. No bar stool this time- no pretense at even trying to pick up anyone else.

"Well, I'm a bit out of date on the pickup scene," Yang framed. "So if I'm going to make this work by tomorrow, I'm going to need practice."

"So… what, I'm your wingman?" Jaune asked to clarify. He looked around- already the familiar whispers of fame and recognition had spread. A booth with a bit of privacy was the best they'd been able to get to get away from the stares. "I'm not sure this is the best place…"

Yang waved him off. "You're not my wingman, you're my target," Yang said, looking him dead in the eye.

"Target?" Jaune asked, before getting it. "Oh, like a practice dummy!" he realized.

Yang didn't even sigh. "Yes, Jaune, you're the dummy," she agreed. "Only instead of hitting you, I'm going to hit on you until I find what works. Your job is to tell me when it does."

"How will I know that?" Jaune asked.

"Probably when I start being irresistible," Yang said. "If you start feeling like you couldn't say no, let me know immediately."

"I dunno, that might not be realistic," Jaune considered with a clinical gaze. "You're pretty attractive already, you sure this won't be too easy?"

Yang wagged a finger. "Trust me, Jaune, you are _anything_ but easy. But yeah, I've got my work cut out for me. Fortunately, I've got all night to work on you."

"At least until your flight in the morning," Jaune added, but Yang's frown convinced him to leave that be. "So, I get drinks while we do this, right? Why don't we start with that?"

"Sure," Yang agreed. "What will you have?"

"Surprise me," Jaune suggested.

Yang returned a short time later, a strawberry sunrise in one hand and something a bit stiffer in the other.

"Here I am, what are your other two wishes?" she greeted as she returned.

"Just this is fine for now, thanks," Jaune said, accepting the stronger of the two drinks.

"Hey," she said, sliding in across from him. "Mind if I flirt with you?"

Jaune's eyes crossed. "Isn't that what we're here for?"

Yang just looked at him, not even releasing him the drink until he wised up.

"Oh!" he realized. "You're starting. Okay. Ahem," he cleared his throat. "The hottest girl of our class hitting on me all night?" Jaune said in faux-surprise. "Why Yang Xiao Long, it would be my pleasure."

"Sure, just don't be selfish," Yang warned, before considering her next words. "What was that class we had towards the end of Beacon, just the two of us?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure we had chemistry," Jaune recalled.

"Same here," Yang smirked. "We used to spend all class talking together instead of paying attention. What are the chances we can engage in anything more than just conversation?"

Jaune took a turn for the confused. "We just got here, but if you want to walk and go…"

Yang pinched her brow. It would continue to be a common urge for the rest of the night. "Have you always been this cute and oblivious, or did you have to work at it?"

Jaune's eyes widened. "Oh. Still flirting. Sorry," he said. "This still feels weird. Not used to it from you." Teasing, jokes, and even gentle mockery, sure- but flirting? That was something she did to other people.

"Get," Yang advised. "Besides, you look like a guy who's heard every pickup line in the books- which one will get you home with me tonight?"

Jaune settled into his seat, and tried to give better feedback. "That might be a bit too abrupt," he advised. "Save something like that for after a few drinks in."

Yang nodded, and took out a pencil and note pad to scribble down notes.

"Maybe I should do a survey of the best pickup lines. Which do you like best: 'Do you come here often?', 'What's your sign?', or 'Hello, I'm doing a survey to find out your favorite pickup line'?"

Jaune laughed, loosening up a bit. "That last one nailed it."

"Good," Yang said, grinning a bit and jotting it down. "Humor seems to work, so…" She shot him a glance. "You were a Junior Huntsman Scout, weren't you?"

"How'd you know?" Jaune asked, surprised. He'd never told anyone in Beacon.

"Because you sure have my heart tied in a knot," Yang replied.

Jaune laughed at the thought.

/

End Eleventh Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

Hope you're not tired of Jaune yet, cause it's going to continue.

To clarify something I said last time- in terms of beats we're halfway through the beats of a story, but the 7 beats aren't evenly spaced. In terms of words, we're 2/3rds in or so, though chapters will be a bit shorter compared to the last few. They serve a different purpose- one which you either already suspect, or will find out soon.


	12. Twelfth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[By the second hour he began to let down his guard.]

She waited until he was just about finished with his drink until she sprang the next one.

"You know, we might be asked to leave soon," she said, looking around the bar.

"Why's that?" Jaune asked with a barely perceptible slur, looking around as well. As always, there were at least a few heads that turned away as his eyes might have met theirs.

"Because you're making all the other guys look bad," Yang said. "Plus, I think I'm ready for a change of pace." She blinked. "Place," she corrected.

"Well, we can't have that," Jaune said, steadying himself with the table before rising to his feet.

"Aren't your legs tired? They've been running through my mind all night."

Jaune laughed. "I'm sure. Besides, I could use a stretch. And the air," he said, stepping off towards the door.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" Yang called out from behind him.

Jaune's hand immediately went to his wallet, before he remembered. "Wait, weren't you paying?" he checked, though he was more than willing to.

"No, I got it," Yang denied, slapping enough lien on the table to cover their drinks.

"Then what'd I forget?" Jaune asked, confused.

"Me," Yang answered, sliding out beside him, before pointing down. "Also, your shoe is undone," she said. "Want me to tie it? I don't want you falling for anyone else."

"Eh, there are worse fates," Jaune said, even as he knelt and tied it for him. His legs were a bit stiffer than he thought, or maybe it was the alcohol in addition, because he wobbled as he stood.

Fortunately Yang was there to help him stabilize. "I'm fine," he said, putting a hand out as they made their way out the door. "I don't need help." That'd just be embarrassing.

"Well, if I said you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?" Yang asked. "Please?"

"Sure."

It was the first time in a while he'd put Yang on the spot, rather than the other way around. For a moment, her jaw dropped as if she wasn't sure which of them was drunk.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Jaune prompted with a smirk, daring to press the limits and see her back down.

She didn't, and easily stepped closer against him. "You have a nice body," Yang said from against him. "Kinda like a banana."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. He looked up, at the bottom of his blonde bangs. He looked down, at, well, a metaphor in hiding. And he looked back at Yang.

"It's very a-peal-ling," she cracked.

Jaune groaned good-naturedly, but threw his arm out all the same, pulling her closer as agreed. His arm went over her, she threw her right arm over his, and together they made their way in the night. They weren't really drunk enough to need help walking, but that's the image the two had as they continued.

"It's gotten colder," Jaune realized.

"Really?" Yang said from beside him, pretending not to notice. "I thought it was pretty hot. Maybe it's just you?"

The goosebumps on her arm betrayed the lie, and she couldn't hide a shiver when he blew a sudden puff of air along her arm and into her ear. "And what's this?" he asked, tracing a finger along the goosebumps on her bare upper arm.

For once she was embarrassed. "Alright, it's cold," she admitted, before looking enviously at his jacket. The hoodie of years past was long-gone, but its replacement had a similar theme. "That jacket looks great on you," she murmured. "Any chance I could I talk you out of it?"

He was already shrugging it off to hand to her. "Chivalry's not quite dead," he said as he handed it over.

She smiled as she put it on. "Nice," she said, taking a deep breath as she appreciated the warmth.

"It is," Jaune agreed, and couldn't resist. "But I always liked it more on a girl's floor."

"Why Jaune," Yang cooed, "it's almost like you're getting in the spirit of things," she teased.

Jaune gave a silly grin back, toughing out the night's nip for now. "Well, you can't have all the fun," he rejected. "Let's see how awkward you feel."

"Try it," Yang challenged. "Bet you'll crack before I do."

"We'll see," Jaune agreed, before guiding her to another establishment. "Let's stop here. I'll get drinks, you get a booth," he said, splitting once they were in.

"Grab me a strawberry sunrise," Yang said, agreeing to the split.

Jaune did, and found her in a little alcove. Once again, there were already whispers and stares from the distance as people spotted the obvious prosthetic. Once more she didn't care, and he made a point not to either as he saw her looking at the menu and licking her lips.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, sliding in across from her and giving the drinks.

"Me-n-u," Yang said, moistening her lips again before taking a sip.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Right. But what's on the menu?" he asked.

"Me-n-u," Yang repeated, wagging her eyebrows as she fingered the letters.

"Fine, give it to me," Jaune said with mock impatience before reaching over and reading off it. "'Sex on the Beach,' 'Golden Shower,' 'Sit on my Face'…" He growled at the sound of her mirth. "You just wanted me to read the dirtiest drink names possible, didn't you?"

"Maaaybe," she admitted with a puerile chuckle. "Or maybe I wanted to give you some inspiration."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell you what. The next time I want a," he looked at the next item on the list, "a 'screaming orgasm,' I'll be sure to ask you."

Yang was almost comically wide eyed. "You. Do not get to take that back," she ruled, before looking around. "Did anyone else catch that? You said it, Jaune- no take backsies. Arc words, and all that."

Jaune groaned. "What would I take back?" he asked. "You're the one offering, aren't you?"

Yang gave an exagerated leer. "Whenever you want," she promised.

Jaune went back to rolling his eyes. "I think you're the one who wants one," he said.

"Guilty as charged," Yang agreed without shame.

"Then you could have gotten one for yourself," he pointed out, though he reached over in an offer to share his own drink. "You know there's no actual alcohol in a Strawberry Sunrise, right? It's a kid's drink. You'll get drunk a lot faster if you have some actually alcohol."

Yang pretended to be affronted. "Okay, first? Don't mess with the sunrise," she ruled. "Second, you never give yourself a Screaming Orgasm. That's just rude," she claimed, to Jaune's snort of disbelief.

"And third…" she said, looking away slightly, "I get drunk faster than I used to. One of the problems with prosthetics is that there's less body to absorb the alcohol," she explained, fingering her glass.

Jaune grabbed her hand.

"Oh no," Jaune warned, shaking his head. "We're getting off mope train, right now. No more tonight, remember? We have a mission," he urged.

"We?" Yang asked, letting her train of thought be derailed.

"You have a guy to work on, and I just have to suffer through your attempts and practice," he claimed with exaggerated suffering.

"It's not that bad," Yang said with a laugh, before realizing he wasn't laughing with her. Her eyes went wide. "It's not that bad, is it? I'm not bothering you with them, am I?" she asked, a bit more urgently and earnestly than before.

Jaune drew it out for a moment longer before cracking a grin. "Nah, it's fine," he admitted, "though some of your lines could use a little work."

"Oh really?" Yang asked, relaxing again.

"Really," Jaune said, before clearing his throat and making an imitation of her. "'If I had five lien for everytime I saw someone as hot as you, I'd have five lien'? Really, Yang? Who wants to be worth five lien?"

"Okay, that one could use a little work," Yang admitted. "How about…" she considered, looking at him. "If I had a lien every time I thought of you, I'd have one lien because you're never out of my mind?"

"Maybe," Jaune conceded. "But you can do better. I mean, what'd you say if I went up to you and said "If I were to ask you out on a date, would your answer be the same as the answer to this question?"

Yang's lips moved as she tried to make sense of it, working it out in her head.

"Jaune, that's cheating!" she realized.

"That's not the right answer," Jaune complained. "You're supposed to give a yes or a no!"

Yang thought on it some more, and smiled. "I like it," she said. "I'm keeping it."

"Good," Jaune said. "Then, how about…"

/

End Twelfth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And the status quo starts to shift. Winner is...?

So, quick trivia- did you know this story was literally built around pickup lines?

No, seriously-I actually started trying for much shorter story that was almost nothing but pickup lines. So I grabbed a couple hundred pickup lines, put them in order for something resembling a plot, and tried to figure out what sort of plot it could be. Turns out you can't do drama or conflict with pickup lines alone, except for some of the more offensive things. So the story ballooned, things changed, and here we are.

Half of Jaune's... Jaune-ness is for a pretty mundane reason. I could say it was for comedic effect, or hint that it might be misdirection, and I can even point to past emotional trauma to justify extreme friend zoning... but the truth is, I just didn't want to throw away all those pickup lines I was pleased to find a use for.

Also- the next chapter is short enough- like, really short- that I'll be just posting two chapters tomorrow. One early, one late. Just be aware.


	13. Thirteenth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[By the third hour, he was flirting back.]

"Yang," Jaune said with a slight hic, "you know how I know you're a boxer?"

"How's that, Jaune?" Yang asked, cheery and smiling but with a composure Jaune had long since lost.

"It's 'cause you're a knockout," Jaune delivered.

Yang chuckled, as much at how _proud_ Jaune looked as anything else.

"You're like pizza," she volleyed, shaking her head. "Even when you're bad, you're good," she explained.

"If you were vegetable, you'd be a cute-cumber," Jaune tried.

"If you were a prime rib, you'd be a hunk," Yang countered. She leaned a bit closer. "You're totally a hunk," she 'confided.'

"Was it love at first sight, or should I walk by again?" Jaune parlayed.

"Definitely not first sight, vomit boy," Yang laughed. "I tried not to feel anything for you, but guess what? Eventually, I failed."

"That's not my name, you know," Jaune said with a friendly eye-roll, but not breaking character. "Most call me Jaune, but you can call me tonight."

"Alright, tonight" Yang agreed, "but are you sure you're not part-camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile."

"Good," Jaune praised, then returned. "Of all the beautiful curves you have, your smile is my favorite."

Yang stilled, caught off guard despite herself. "That one was… really sweet, actually," she admitted, dropping character with a slight smile. "If you're not careful, I might think you mean it."

"But it's true," Jaune said, leaning closer and looking at her. "Your smile and your hair are you best features. They're so beautiful I just forgot my next line."

A little red hue began to rise to Yang's cheeks. "Now you're just showing off," she accused without minding at all.

"You flushed, my point," Jaune claimed, but didn't take back what he said. "That makes us tied," he reminded.

"Pinch me, you're so good I must be dreaming," Yang retorted, before swatting his hand away before he could take her up on the offer. "What's your secret?"

"Put a little bit of truth in it, and it all goes better," Jaune said. "What's yours?"

"The same," Yang replied.

"I bet you say that to all the guys," Jaune said, rolling his eyes and not believing it in the least.

Yang's smile froze, and started to cool, before she looked down and pushed herself to her feet instead. "Tell you what," she said, undeterred. "I'll go get more drinks, and no more handicap for you when I get back."

Jaune looked affronted. "You've been going easy on me?"

"You're anything but easy, but I'm wearing you down."

"Don't get cocky," Jaune warned, even as he tilted at an angle. "I can go all night."

"Looking forward to it," Yang said, lip curling in a smirk.

/

End Thirteenth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

AKA the really short one, which shows change but not much else. This was one of those cases where these few chapters feel and read more like a montage than anything else.

Next one in twelve hours or so.


	14. Fourteenth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[The fourth hour he began to slip.]

They stumbled into another bar. Well, Jaune stumbled- Yang supported him, ready to help him if he needed it since he refused to give up his one-sided drinking contest. They'd already changed bars more than once to cool off, but he was still red- as much from the liquor as the latest topic, a saucy tale of conquests.

From her position at his side, his arm over her shoulders, Yang unleashed her latest offensive before he even sat down. Her hand- the natural one- reached lower than strictly appropriate and _squeezed_ even as she guided him to a booth _._

"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?"

She might have been saying it to him- or maybe past him, to the person on the other side. Whether there was someone else over there or not, Jaune didn't even know. He'd stopped looking at anyone else awhile ago.

"So, Yang, how was heaven last time you were there?"

"Haven?" she responded, surprised that he was changing track. "Well, everyone was doing fine-"

"No," Jaune interrupted, reaching out and grabbing her attention- and arm. "Heaven. Because Yang, you are divine."

"I'm no angel, I was kicked out for being naughty." She leaned closer. "Want me to show you why?"

There was a pause as Jaune's breath hitched, and he didn't look up.

"Jaune?" Yang eventually prompted, stirring him. "You alright? My eyes are up here."

"I'm fine!" Jaune stirred. "I wasn't looking at your breasts- just your heart." He paused. "It's very big," he added.

"Nice save. But you've been a bad boy- do I need to go to your room?"

Jaune couldn't help it. He licked his lips, and said "Yes."

Yang stilled, but only for a moment before she exploited the opportunity. "Do you sleep on your stomach?" she asked out of the blue.

"No," Jaune answered.

"Can I?"

"Yang..." Jaune groaned, frustration and something else.

"You know, Jaune, with a family as big as yours, you ever thought about running an orphanage? Because I'd definitely give you kids."

Something flashed, and Jaune spluttered. "I can't believe- I can't believe _you'd_ use that one," he said, somewhere between embarrassed and shocked and… not quite upset.

Yang thought on it- the requirements of leaving an orphan behind- and winced at the unintended implication. She really should be the last one to use that one. "Not what I meant," she tried to clarify. "I just thought… there space in your heart for one more?" she tried weakly.

"There's only one girl on my mind now," Jaune said, absent drunken cheer. Yang's smile fell, and she was beginning to look away when Jaune continued.

"But in ten years, there could be another," Jaune promised.

"Oh?" Yang asked, not sounding particularly optimistic as she look away.

"She'll call you Mommy."

Yang's breath hitched, and Jaune gasped too as he realized what he said. Even as Yang's head pivoted to look at him, an expression of fright and realization was crossing his.

"Yang-" he began.

"Jaune-" Yang tried.

"Sorry," Jaune finished first, a fright and horror crossing his face. "That was too far."

"It wasn't," Yang tried again, too late to pre-empt him.

Jaune shook his head, grabbing it even as he tried to gather back his wits. "No, it was totally uncalled for," he said, reminding himself why. "Even for friends-"

"Jaune-"

" _Especially_ for a friend with a guy she's seeing tomorrow-"

"Jaune."

"I just got carried away, I didn't m-"

"Jaune!" Yang repeated, ignoring the looks they were getting as she reached with her right arm and squeezed with a pressure he couldn't ignore.

"Jaune," she said a final time, sure she had his attention. "It's alright. I didn't mind."

Jaune slowly uncurled. "You didn't?" he blinked, as if not believing. "You should."

"It was a good line. Short. Sweet. I loved it. Why wouldn't I?" Yang asked.

"Ruby minded."

And that was the rub, wasn't it? It'd been the line, the sentiment, that had unraveled so much and sent past certainties tumbling down. But this time, this woman didn't flinch, didn't stand back or look away.

"Well, I'm not Ruby," she said simply looking him the eye without apology and with sober seriousness. "And I wouldn't be flirting with you like this if I wasn't ready for something like that."

Something in what she said- the meaning Jaune heard- almost made his breath catch. Almost made him assume things once more. But that would be silly. He took a deeper breath, and relaxed.

"Sorry," he said again, though this time for his reaction than the original non-offense. "I just… slipped up. Forgot who I was with for a moment."

"You thought I was someone else?" Yang asked.

"I forgot why I shouldn't get carried away," Jaune clarified. "I haven't felt like this since…"

Five years ago. The night on the town before graduation. The last time she- they-

"We flirted back then, didn't we?" Jaune recalled. He couldn't remember why he'd tried to forget. His memories were hazy from his drunken state now, even though he'd been about as sober back then.

"We were- are- just a couple of friends having a good time," Yang defended. "Nothing wrong with that."

"No, it's just-"

 _What do you mean, 'no'?_

 _You… you don't really mean that._

 _I do. I really do._

 _That's just the alcohol talking. It's making you say things you normally wouldn't._

 _Nuh-uh. I'm just- ugh- forgetting why I wouldn't. Uncle Qrow calls it- calls it- liquid courage. Why won't you- you believe me?_

 _'cause you're one of the bravest people I know?_

 _Can't I be afraid of some things?_

 _You definitely can't get this drunk._

 _Hy- he- hiccup- hypocrite. You, you're drunk too!_

 _Not as much as you. Come on- I'm taking you home and putting you to bed._

 _You mean-_

 _Your bed. Your dorm, with your team. I'm sure Ru- Ru- I'm sure Team WBY wouldn't want anyone taking advantage of you._

 _You could take advantage of me._

 _Yang…_

 _Really. Even- even Ru- even she wouldn't mind._

 _…I would. I may be drunk, but I'm not- I'm not that kind of guy. I'm your-_

"Friend. Right. I almost forgot," Jaune whispered, remembering what he'd hours ago claimed to have forgotten.

He tried to compose himself- to gather his composure and force back sobriety and propriety by sheer force of will. He pushed himself away from the table, and away from her.

"I think," he managed, clawing for self-control and self-restraint, "I think I'd better stop."

"I think you need another drink," Yang countered. "Something to distract you. Here," she said, sliding him another.

"Yang, I'm not sure," he began.

"It's fine," she reassured. "I'm buying for both of us, remember? Drink up- it'll take the edge off and help you stop worrying," she said.

Jaune frowned even so. "You're… not concerned I might get carried away?" he asked, seeking reassurance.

"Trust me, Jaune- if you try something I don't like, you'll be the first to know."

There was something odd about Yang's promise- some sort of secretive joke- but Jaune couldn't make sense of it. He gave up trying to figure it out and decided to trust her. He did trust her, and sober friends looked out for drunk ones.

"Sorry about that," he said a few swigs later, worries fading. "Almost made a mess of things."

"I have that effect on people," Yang said neutrally as she watched him carefully.

"Mm," Jaune hummed non-committedly. "I was feeling a little off today, but you know what Yang?" he asked, trying to re-kindle the mood.

"What?" Yang asked, leaning back and giving him an impressive sight.

"You definitely turned me back on," Jaune admitted, wagging his eyebrows even as he took another sip.

Yang relaxed, glad things were back on track. "You're like a candy bar, Jaune- half sweet, and half nuts."

/

End Fourteenth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And so Jaune starts to slip. Only took two weeks and fourteen rounds, lol. But- gasp! Things are starting to go well! You know what that means!

If you start feeling a little unease in the pit of your stomach going forward...

And also so, another little bit of backstory previously foreshadowed is now delivered. Jaune's not just comically oblivious- there's _history_ there, yo.


	15. Fifteenth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[At last call, he began to crumble.]

"You want to know- wanna know what I'm thinking about?" Jaune asked more bars and many more drinks later.

"I'm surprised you're thinking at all," Yang admitted, trying to pull him up and away from leaning on the wall of the booth. All it really changed was him leaning on her- a partial improvement, at least.

Jaune scowled. "That's not it," he said with a slur. "You're supposed to guess 'you.'"

"Me?" Yang asked absently, trying to loop his arm around her neck.

"Exactly," Jaune said, nodding drunkenly. "I'm thinking about you. That's the joke," he explained, "cause 'you' is the first word in the-"

Yang ignored the explanation as she gave a pull, starting to get him out of the booth. Jaune didn't resist, or help, as he was dragged, and instead let himself fall on her lap. His arm came up off her shoulder, but she made sure to catch him and not let him hit the table. Instead he just lay in her lap, looking straight up at her.

"Yang, you must be a broom," Jaune said without rising, "because you just swept me off my feet."

"You've got such a nice ass I thought it'd be a shame for you to keep sitting on it," Yang said, giving up moving him for a bit.

Jaune didn't say anything for a bit- just looked up at her, even as she looked down at him. He had the faintest hint of a glow in his eyes- of aura and semblance trying to fight off the effects of alcohol, an enemy they were never meant to counter- but really he was just staring.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, brushing a bit of his hair out of his eyes.

"You, before I wake up from this dream," Jaune answered.

"Dream?"

"Must be," Jaune reasoned. "Ruby did this back… back then. I never remember to forget," he rambled, even as he reached up and began to idly play with her hair. She didn't stop him. "Sometimes it's not her- sometimes it's whoever I'm with- but she keeps coming back. Every time I know it's too good to be true, and every time I just wonder… wonder how long she'll stay this time." He closed his eyes and frowned, almost a grimace of pain. "But she's always gone in the morning. Always."

Yang said nothing, just stroked his head as he fixated on her hair.

"First time I've ever seen you, though," Jaune shared, relaxing, eyes still closed. "Does that make you my dream girl now?"

"Maybe," Yang said, and pinched him hard.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, eyes widening. "What was that for?"

"Checking which one of us was dreaming," Yang claimed, though she made no movement to move to pinch herself. "Don't want you nodding off."

"Oh. Okay," Jaune accepted. "It's your turn," he eventually pointed out.

"Hm," Yang hummed, continuing her motions of running her fingers through his hair. "I think I used up all my good ones for now. Feel free to keep going yourself."

He didn't answer right away. He was looking up at her looking down at him.

"What are you looking at?" Jaune asked.

"A drunk," Yang said, affectionately. She began to move him upright, manhandling him back up. "Come on, time to go."

Jaune blinked, and blinked a few more times until his eyes focused. "Why?" he asked. "We're not done yet. There's still drinks left to drink."

"One, because I don't want you passing out on me," Yang ruled, putting his arm back over her. "Two, I'm running low on lien. And three, bar's closing," she pointed out.

It was true- the last patrons were gone, and even the bartender was finishing up. They hadn't interrupted yet, but were shooting thankful glances all the same.

"Wait a minute," Jaune remembered. "I got a last one."

"Hit me," Yang said. Jaune cleared his throat, and did. Then he hit on her.

"Ready to go home now?" he asked, shooting a cocky smile.

"Thought you'd never ask," Yang said, and without giving him a chance to react she pulled him against her.

With only a slight grunt, Yang stood, and dragged Jaune up with her. He didn't stand as much as lean against her, holding on to her for the support his own legs weren't giving him. His head nestled against her front, though he might not have actually realized it as she took a better hold and led him towards the door.

"Yang, you know what I like about you right now?" Jaune asked as they managed to make it out to the cool night air.

"A lot of things, I hope."

"Just two- my arms," Jaune claimed, before squeezing a bit harder than was strictly necessary for stability. As drunk as he was, he might not even realize where he was squeezing.

Yang laughed, clear as the night air. "Jaune, if you weren't so romantic, I'd punch you." She paused. "Still might," she grinned.

"Oh, burn!" Jaune claimed in mock fear, backing away for a moment- but just a moment, when he needed stability again. "You're hot enough I bet you could light a candle at ten paces," Jaune claimed. "Oh wait- you can!" he cackled.

"I also picked up some B&E from Blake," she claimed. "Give me a chance, and I'll steal your heart."

"Hmmm," Jaune considered. "Let's make it a mutual crime. You steal mine and I'll steal yours?" he offered off the cuff.

"Can't. Already given," Yang claimed, proving once more that honesty isn't always the best policy.

Jaune quieted at that. "Sorry. I forgot," he apologized, and Yang cursed beneath her breath.

"Never mind. Don't worry," she tried, but once more the mood was broken for the moment.

"What time do you have to leave for Haven?" Jaune eventually asked.

Yang was grateful enough that she didn't mind that he'd already used that one. "Oh, I'm sure the other angels won't mind if I stay with you a bit longer," she panned.

It didn't play out. "Not that," Jaune denied, shaking his head. "Haven. The reunion. When do you have to-" he audibly struggled, "have to leave?"

It was her turn to let the silence continue on. She wondered if he'd forget if she let him. By the way he was looking at her, watching, she doubted it. Still…

"I don't _have_ to go," she began, not looking him in the eye. "I _could_ stay-"

"Yang." It was simple, a single word. From him, it stopped her in her tracks. "You promised," he said simply. Not a condemnation, not a plea, simply a reminder.

She grimaced. She had. She'd told him what she'd do tomorrow. Dust, was it morning yet? Was it tomorrow? A quick check said it was- that it was already early morning.

"Jaune, I-" she tried, and she stalled. She always stalled when it came to things like this.

She didn't always get flicked in the forehead. It was more startling than painful, but it made her look- really look- at the man she was supporting.

"Don't chicken out," Jaune said, staring at her with a drunken honesty. "The Yang I know might mess things up here and there, but she never ran away from a challenge. Or anyone else."

Yang gave him a mixed smile. "You sure know what to say to make it hurt, don't you?" she said, smiling despite the twisting of her stomach.

He didn't respond to that. His mind was still stumbling to his next point.

"Your flight," he began, clearly trying to remember distant things. "If you're going to Haven, you'll have to catch a morning flight."

"Yeah," Yang acknowledged. If she were going to get to Haven in time for the Reunion, she'd have to catch an early one.

Jaune looked at the same public clock she had. "When are you leaving?"

Her lips pressed together. "I thought I'd stay with you a bit longer."

"You want to crash at my place?" Jaune asked. "Catch a nap? In my bed?" He didn't have a couch, but he could always sleep on the floor.

"I wasn't planning on sleeping," Yang admitted. She looked away and back forward. "I can always do that on a plane."

"Lucky," Jaune accepted easily, leaning against her harder as if to make her step forward. "Just don't forget. You promised."

Despite his weight- despite his pressure- Yang didn't step away.

"Jaune, I-" she began, but carried through. "Jaune, come with me," she invited. "Come to Haven. Come back to the Reunion with me," she appealed.

"Yang…"

"Everyone would be happy to see you there. Everyone wants to see you there. Especially- especially Ruby," she promised. "You could make up. It could help you get over things. We could…" she curled her hands.

"Yang."

That's what he said into her ear, but that isn't what made her still. It was the sliding of his hands down her arms, and one arm in particular. A soft glow and long-lost warmth brushed against metal, until soft and glowing fingers intertwined with metal ones.

[ _ResolveRemembranceRegret. You promised. And so did I._ ]

"Maybe next year," Jaune whispered, leaving his hand in hers so she knew he meant it.

"You could help me get that guy there this year," she tried, squeezing his hand a bit harder.

"You don't need me for that," Jaune claimed, ignoring- or not understanding- Yang's silence. Soon he spoke again.

"I'm going home," Jaune said. "I did what I intended tonight. Talked to a pretty woman. Got hammered enough that I could sleep till noon. And there's- there's no way I'm getting on a bullhead like this," he stated, stumbling to prove a point. "Mission- accomplished. I'm not going back."

Yang didn't hide her sad expression.

"But that's no excuse for you!" Jaune said with sudden and exaggerated cheer, using the hand that wasn't wrapped around her back to poke her in the side. "Show him what you're all about, Yang. Show him until he has no other choice but to believe you. When he does, he's yours. I know it."

"You sure?" Yang asked, sounding less like the twenty-something woman she was and once more like a younger, occasionally secretly insecure school girl she once was.

"I swear," Jaune affirmed. He gave her a goofy smile, though it softened soon enough. "You got this, Yang," he encouraged, leaning his forehead into her. "Just do something that won't leave any ambi- ambi- ambiguity. That you can't pass off as anything else. But no matter what he says… I'll be here for you. I promise."

"Jaune?" she said as his words hung in the air.

"Yeah?"

"Wish me luck."

"I-"

Whatever he would have said- however he would have tried to- was cut off when Yang released his hand, grabbed the back of his head with her prosthetic, and pulled.

And kissed him.

Jaune startled at first, but couldn't resist. Not the heat, not the force, and not the soft lips with the sweet hint of strawberries. He couldn't resist, couldn't even respond before she ended the kiss, leaving him panting and wide eyed before he could even think to reach back and pull her closer.

"Wha- what was that for?" he managed, stumbling back and leaning against the first wall he could.

"For luck," Yang explained, letting out a nervous giggle even as cheeks flushed from something other than alcohol.

"Aren't- aren't I supposed to offer that?" Jaune said, with a nervous laugh of his own.

"Were you going to?"

"Well, no-"

"Then I had to take it myself," Yang reasoned. "You know. For luck," she whispered, looking away.

"Luck. Right. Ha," Jaune managed, calming himself down at the offered rationalization, flimsy as it was, as he slid against the wall to the ground. She was neither surprised or disappointed. He gave a nervous laugh. "See? That's what you need to do. It's like my Dad used to say- all you need is confidence."

"Didn't he say that about picking up women?" Yang asked, looking back.

"Everyone likes confidence," Jaune said. "At least, I do," he whispered as an addendum.

Maybe he would have said more- maybe he would have reminded her what else he said- but he forgot to. Looking at her, looking at him with a fond look that hinted at something he wouldn't assume, Jaune lost himself until he needed to breath. And something else.

"I can't get up," Jaune realized, breaking the spell. He tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't respond like he wanted. A curious thought crossed his mind, curious because it seemed to work even though his body wasn't.

"I'm drunk." He laughed at the thought. He reached out to her with both arms. "Pick me up?"

"I intended to," Yang said, bending over to pull him up. That turned out not to be enough- his legs having given up, he couldn't even stand. Yang manhandled him as she tried to find a grip that worked.

"Hold on," she directed.

"Where?" he asked, trying to find something- anything- he could pull.

"Anywhere but the hair," Yang said. "That's third date at best."

Eventually what seemed to work best was the venerable piggy back ride- only slightly less embarrassing than the bridal style she started with. He did what she said as best he could- and if his hands brushed against things that might have gotten him decked six, eight years ago, he was too drunk to mind now.

Maybe she was too.

Leaning against her back, still amazed at how her shoulders could be so broad and so feminine, Jaune leaned against her once more, not even minding the blond hair caressing his face.

"Yang?"

"Yeah Jaune?" she returned, as they made their way to a better street.

"I meant what I said. Whether he's an idiot, you can come with me. My treat."

"I plan to. Sounds fun," Yang said, looking at the clock. It was officially tomorrow, after all. "Now stay awake. I got one last thing to do tonight," she urged.

"What's that?" Jaune asked, fighting off an urge to nod off since she wanted it.

"I'm taking you," Yang said, grunting as she hitched him up and his weight slid into her.

"Hm? Where?"

"Home."

/

End Fifteenth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And this round's winner for best line is...

Not much else to say, besides... people have finally stopped wondering if Yang was after Jaune or not, so I don't think it can be considered a spoiler anymore. Only took about a dozen chapters, lol.


	16. Sixteenth Round

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[And when he couldn't defend himself any longer...]

"Which way?" Jaune asked as they came to an intersection.

He was walking again, of course- don't drink and drive, kids- though walking might not have been the right word. An early morning stroll was just enough to help Jaune sober up a bit, get the blood pumping, but he still staggered as much as not.

Still, if Yang minded him occasionally grabbing hold of her or leaning on her for support, she did a good job hiding it. A very good job.

"Why don't we go to my place and get you out of those cold clothes?" Yang offered, pointing in one direction. "You look like you could use something to warm you up," she said as he shivered once more.

"Trust me, I want to get out of them, but I wouldn't have a thing to change into," he laughed. His own shirt was just a bit damp- the usual sort of thing from wearing one shirt in a bunch of warm bars and splashing a bit too much water on your face to wake up- but it wasn't doing him any favors. He looked enviously at his own jacket on her shoulders, and her other things.

Yang hmmed. "You could always wear my sheets while we warm them up," she suggested, not remarking on where his eyes were drifting.

"Do you even have a drier?" Jaune asked straight-faced.

Yang held out a moment, but only a moment. "No," she admitted, dropping her shoulders comically. "You could dry them on my floor, though," she offered.

"You don't even have a clothesline, do you?" Jaune asked with a hint of a tease.

"I do to!" Yang hotly denied, and proved it by turning and using it to check Jaune's neck. It was gentle but persistent, and Jaune let himself be knocked off his feet as Yang held on and guided him into falling backwards on her front.

"Not quite what I meant," Jaune said, laughing at the 'clothesline' she'd thrown at him turned into a rear-neck choke. Suddenly he was her captive, though obviously he hardly felt scared.

"Come on, Jaune," Yang urged, whispering into his ear from behind. "If you're that concerned, I could always dry them out myself. You know how hot I am," she said, pulling him a bit harder into her generous chest.

Then she let her aura flared, and released just a hint of her fiery semblance.

Golden flames enveloped them, but they were anything but painful. For a moment her aura enveloped him, and the golden flames licked across his body- comforting, caressing, wanting and warm. For a moment, the flame replaced the buzz with a different sort of intoxication, and the chilled night air disappeared- and when the flames retreated, a whole other sort of goosebumps came over him.

It took Jaune a moment for his mouth to work again. "That's one way to warm my clothes," he admitted, mouth dry.

"Among other things."

Jaune couldn't catch his breath. She was still squeezing him too tight. "You sure you'd want to?" he asked, panting.

"I'd love to."

Jaune squirmed, writhing against her. "I, uh, um, pants!" he grasped. "My pants are- too small. Yeah. That's right. They probably wouldn't fit. It'd be uncomfortable for you. I couldn't," he rationalized.

"I could," she returned, still whispering in his ears. "I could totally see myself in your pants tonight, Jaune."

Dust, her breath against his neck was _hot._

Jaune couldn't help it- he laughed. Nervously.

"Alright, you won that round," he confessed, submitting in surrender. "Good line, Yang."

"Thanks." Oddly, she didn't back off, and kept holding him.

"…Yang?" Jaune managed when he realized she wasn't backing off or giving him back his space.

"Yes, Jaune?" she returned, not tightening and not loosening and not letting him forget what he was being pulled against.

"Could you let go of me?" he managed, face reddening and a slight panting becoming obvious.

"…why?" She didn't loosen at all. If anything, she drew him closer.

"It's hard to breath." And not just because of the choke.

Her arms uncoiled, and Jaune stumbled out of her grip panting. When Jaune turned he stared at her, collecting his wits as best he could. She wasn't facing him- but a glimpse out of the corner of her eye indicated she was watching.

A shiver of nerves overtook him, and Yang's face took a satisfied smile… and something else. Something predatory.

Jaune shivered again.

"Maybe we should split up here," Jaune suggested, nervous. "You want to call a cab?"

Yang shook her head, long hair swaying hypnotically. "Actually, I'm a little short on cash from all the drinks. Unless you want to share a cab home together?" she asked.

"I, uh, don't have enough handy for two trips. It'd have to be my face or yours." It took him a moment to realize what he said, and he colored again. "Place! I meant place!"

Yang smirked, but didn't mind. "We can take a cab to your place, since mine is so primitive" she agreed. She pantomimed a fatalistic sigh. "Sigh- and then you'll kick me out, and I'll just have to walk back to the hotel on my own, in the wee hours of the morning."

Something about the way she said that stirred something.

"No way," he rejected. "I'd never kick-" he stopped, and coughed. "It's not right for a lady to walk alone at night," he corrected.

Yang flexed her right arm, and the metal. "Ah, Jaune, worried about little ol' me?" she asked, teasing with a smile. "I can take care of myself," she said with a generous roll of her shoulders that moved more generous things under his jacket. He hadn't been so jealous of a piece of leather since a minute ago.

"I know you can," Jaune said, looking away with a flush. "But it's still not right. We take the cab to your place, and I'll walk back," he offered.

"Jaune, you're so predictable some times," Yang said, before flicking him on the forehead. The only reason he didn't fall down was because he stumbled back into a light pole. "Also, drunk. If I'm at risk, what about you?"

"It's different," Jaune insisted, still leaning against the pole. "No one would want to do… things to me."

Yang strode towards him, a walk that could only be called a saunter. His back was already to the light pole, he couldn't retreat any further. Her metal hand reached out, took his chin, and forced him to look at her. He didn't flinch at her metal hand. He didn't even resist.

"Don't sell yourself short, Jaune," Yang whispered with a husky tone. "There are girls out here who would Eat. You. Up. If they ever caught you alone. And you know what?"

"Wh-wh-what?" Jaune stammered, teeth chattering from the cold and a sudden case of the nerves.

She leaned forward, closer, too close, just so she could whisper into his ear.

"I'm not going to let them."

Jaune shivered again, and it had nothing to do with sweat-dampened clothes or the cold. Still… "I'm not going to let you walk home alone, Yang," he said, holding the line.

"And I'm not going to leave you alone," Yang countered. "What do you say to that, big guy?"

Jaune struggled for breath, and composure, and saw the solution. "I'm taking you home. My home," he clarified.

"Now you're talking my language," Yang chuckled, voice still deep. "And then?"

Jaune swallowed. "And then- then you take a cab. Home."

"But I'll already be there," Yang claimed. "What happened to not kicking me out, Jaune?" she pouted, teased.

Jaune closed his eyes and looked up, straight up, the only way he could escape her hand's grip. "Yang, please," he begged, almost moaned. "You're not making this easy."

"No. I'm not. And neither are you," Yang's voice said, before her hand pushed his chin up and his neck became intimately familiar with the pinch of her teeth. Aura would probably prevent a bruise- had he had the control to summon it.

"Yang!" Jaune gasped. "What are you doing!?"

"Protecting you," Yang claimed, before nipping again. Once again his aura didn't protect him instinctively. It knew he wasn't being attacked.

"Why?" he asked with a hitch in his throat.

"So greedy little girls won't think you're free." Another nip. Another gasp. "I should have done this years ago," he thought he heard her mutter.

He ignored it. He had to. "Yang! What if people see you?"

"Let them," Yang claimed, not caring if they thought what she wanted them to think. Jaune whimpered at another nip.

"What will they- ah!- say?"

"That I'm taking a bite out of crime." Nip. "If you look this good, you can't be legal." Nip again.

"Yang, are you drunk?" Jaune demanded, begged, unable to look down as Yang's metal palm pushed his chin up. His eyes tried to look down- wanted to- but he couldn't. He could only imagine what she looked like, her teeth at his defenseless throat.

Yang heard him gasp. "Ooh, did that hurt?" Yang taunted, or perhaps cooed. "Here, let me kiss that and make it all better."

"Yang, please- ah!" the feeling of wet skin exposed to the night startled him.

"Please what, Jaune? You have to tell me so I can understand," she taunted, relishing the irony.

"Please, don't-" Nip. Gasp.

"Don't what? Don't do this? Want something else, Jaune?"

"No," he groaned, his body below his neck writhing and betraying him even as he head was held up high. "Please, don't-" he felt fingers of flesh and blood pop a button, exposing his collar even as he feebly reached for her hair. "Stop."

"Please don't stop?" Yang echoed, a grin audible before a delicious pain nipped his collarbone. "Don't worry, Jaune-"

"Yang." He managed, forcing it out even as his body begged him not to push her away. "Stop."

Lips froze on skin, but teeth remained behind them as she froze. "Why?" she asked, warmth fading only a bit as she stayed this side of neutral. "You're enjoying it."

Jaune couldn't deny it- his body was betraying him in obvious ways- but it didn't matter.

"Think this through," he begged. "Your guy tomorrow-"

"Let me worry about him," she rejected his appeal.

"I can't-"

"You can. And you want to," she countered, brushing her hand further south.

"Yang, please," Jaune gasped, even as his body tried to push itself harder into her. "Please, stop!" he cried.

Yang stilled when she heard the gasp that was too close to a plea for help. "Jaune?" she asked, a hint of worry in her tone.

"Yang, please… stop teasing me," Jaune begged, even as he reached up to feebly pull her arm from his neck

Yang lowered her arm from his chin, backing away. Jaune slid down, into a sitting position on the ground as his chest heaved. His shirt was undone, his hair ruffled, and his head was staring between his knees.

He wasn't smiling, and didn't look excited in the least at the view he could have had as she knelt.

"Jaune," Yang tried to reach out, but was stopped with a swift hand in-between.

"Don't," Jaune gasped as he covered his neck with his other hand. "Yang… don't you think you've taken this far enough?" Jaune asked, not looking at her as he rubbed his bruising neck. "Haven't you made your point already?"

"Have I?" Yang answered the question with a question.

"You can have any man you want. Any man," Jaune said, without exception. Even he wasn't immune, not totally. "I know it. I knew it. And you believe me. Isn't that enough?" he asked her.

"I- no," Yang confessed. "It's not."

"It should be. I'm drunk." Jaune said simply. Coherent or not, it was still a fact. "I'm drunk and I'm not thinking straight. I'm reading into things I probably shouldn't, and I can't tell a joke from the real thing right now. _Please_ Yang," he begged for mercy. "I don't know what to believe, but I know one thing." He looked at her with as sincere an appeal as he could. "I don't want either of us waking up tomorrow regretting tonight."

"You think I'm kidding around?" she asked.

"I think you can be careless," Jaune admitted, looking at her with tired but wary eyes. "Just like Ruby."

Yang hissed, as if struck by a low blow. "That's not fair."

"Not fair or not true?" Jaune asked, guarded and guarding himself. "I think you're nervous about what tomorrow may bring, and want to blow off a little steam. I think you're worried about facing that guy tomorrow, and want some confidence." He let it trail off. "Am I wrong?"

Yang hissed between her teeth. "Not… entirely," she admitted honestly.

Jaune relaxed, misaimed familiar certainty returning even as he shook his head. "I can help you with some of that, Yang. Gladly. But please, don't ask me to- don't ask me to be your stress relief. I can't take it. My heart can't take it."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Jaune," Yang denied.

"Ruby didn't think so either. I want to believe you, Yang, I _want_ to," Jaune admitted. " But the drink- it's making you do things you shouldn't. Wouldn't. Like last time, back before graduation…"

"Five years ago I was drunk, not a liar. And I'm not a liar now," Yang said firmly, and Jaune stilled. "Alcohol removes inhibitions. It doesn't make you do things you don't want."

Jaune's hands moved to his head. "You're confusing me, Yang," he said, his momentary familiar certainty fading. "What you're saying-"

"Do you trust me?"

"Huh?" Jaune asked.

"Do you trust me?" Yang repeated. "If I said I'd catch you when you fall, would you believe me?"

"I'd trust you with my life," Jaune said, but looked away, the other words unspoken. He'd trust them- any of them- with his life in a heartbeat.

With his heart, on the other hand…

Yang took a deep breath.

"If I- if I asked you to trust me with more than that," she said slowly, "would your answer be the same as the answer to this question?"

"…that's cheating, Yang," Jaune pointed out.

"Answer the question, Jaune," she insisted.

Jaune hesitantly, eventually... gave a silent nod.

"Then believe the next four words I say," Yang said. "Jaune, I-"

Silence, choked words, and a metal fist that curled so tightly you could hear the stress within the clench-

"I'm not drunk this time."

"That was five," was his first response. "Or seven. You are drunk, aren't you?" he accused the very next breath. "You must be- you were tossing down drinks with me all night!"

"You know what I had," Yang pointed out softly. "Nothing but strawberry sunrises."

"Someone must have slipped something in," he tried.

"You watched my drinks."

"Then it must have been before we met- or- or-" he trailed off, unable to think of, unable to acknowledge what that 'or' might be. "You're drunk," he accused again, though this time he sounded desperate. "You have to be!"

Yang slowly reached out a hand to cusp his cheek.

"If I am, Jaune," she said, "it's only because I'm intoxicated by you."

Jaune stared at her, and she looked back- not a cheeky grin, not a hint of mirth, but just a twitch of the lips that hinted at a soft, sad smile.

He laughed.

"Heh. Heh. Ha ha ha… hahahaha!" Jaune descended into peals of laughter, slapping his forehead and looking up and laughing into the night sky.

"This is… this is too much," he managed as Yang watched silently. "Is that supposed to be a pickup line? Now? I can't believe it. This is too much. No way you did all that to set up some punchline."

"I didn't," Yang agreed, watching him carefully.

He was silent for a long, long minute as he watched the cobblestone.

"What are you up to, Yang?" he asked, quietly.

"I can't say," she admitted with absolute honesty. Really, she couldn't- and she'd tried who knows how many times. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"I don't know," Jaune confessed. "Or I thought I didn't know. But..."

Yang stayed silent.

"I can't think right right now, Yang. The you I knew- the you I thought I knew- she teased. Had fun. Even flirted. But she wasn't serious. Now… I don't know what to think right now."

"Then don't," Yang whispered. "Just come with me. Do you trust me?" Yang asked.

Jaune tensed, and then slowly, cautiously, unwound. "I'll trust you. Tonight," he conceded, as tension slowly seeped from his shoulders. "I mean, I've no clue what's going through your head, but when have I ever?"

She approached him. Carefully, cautiously, as if not to startle the intended mark.

"Here, let me get you," she said, even as she got him back on his feet and against her. He didn't resist, letting his head lazily lean against her. He briefly closed his eyes.

"Fine. I surrender. You win."

"Not yet I haven't," Yang said even as her right hand assumed a grip that would take a crowbar to pry loose.

Jaune blinked, looking at her even as his arm once more became familiar with her neck as it looped over. "You haven't?"

"It's still a work in progress. Don't you remember?" Yang asked.

He didn't. But rather than remind him what counted as victory, she was looking left and right at the intersection, a thoughtful look on her face.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to figure out the quickest path to winning," Yang said, before looking at him. The way she was helping him stand, their faces were almost touching.

"Hey, I'm new in town. Mind giving me directions to your place?"

/

End Sixteenth Round

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

You know, every once in awhile readers and reviewers will take away something or have an idea that was never intended. It didn't even occur to me that people would think Yang was going to kidnap Jaune. I mean, I considered it as a plot line at one point, but it wasn't the intended takeaway of last chapter.

Welp. Closing in on the end. Who's ready for beat six?


	17. Last Call

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

[…she took him home.]

Not much later, they were there. Looking, leaning, a tension in the air they reached his apartment door. It wasn't an unhappy air. Yang's latest line was full of ease. But Jaune's silence reflected a tension they both felt. Had to feel, unless he was making the second-biggest presumption of his life.

"We're here," Jaune pointed out, indicating his door.

"Yeah. You good?" Yang asked as Jaune slid off her shoulder and into the wall.

"Just… reaching for keys," Jaune claimed as he reached into his jeans. "Where were they…?"

A jingle sounded behind them as Yang shook them, the key ring on her finger. "Left jacket pocket," she said, shrugging a bit in bemusement and proving that she was still wearing it.

"Oh," Jaune said dumbly, even as he stared at his jacket for a moment longer. "I'll, uh, be wanting it back," he said.

"Why?" Yang asked. "It'll be on your floor soon enough," she said, even as she began to start unzipping it from the top. "Along with the rest of your clothes."

"That's, er-"

"They're still sweaty, aren't they? You're not going to sleep in them, are you?" Yang asked, to Jaune's denials. "You don't to get a cold. You want to warm up, don't you?" she said, taunting his goosebumps with a soft brush against his skin.

"Yes," he admitted, somewhere between a confession and a desire.

"Then Jaune…"

"Yes Yang?" he shivered, not protesting her finger as it dragged across his body.

"Aren't you going to open the door?" she asked, finishing her drag to point towards the locked handle.

Jaune came back to life, and stumbled a bit as he did. Yang chuckled as he tried to fit the key in the lock. The door opened, but for a moment, Jaune didn't follow.

"Jaune?" Yang prompted. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Jaune was quiet. "I'm not sure I should," he said, not looking back to see Yang's expression. "A man and a woman alone together- people might get the wrong idea."

"It's only the wrong idea if they're wrong," Yang hinted.

Jaune stilled. "That's not what I'm talking about this time," he denied. "I don't know what to think of you right now, Yang. I think I have the right idea... but if I'm not, I'm afraid of being wrong with you."

Yang began to say something, but Jaune cut her off, putting his hands on both sides of the doorway, as if blocking her from the portal.

"This is where I draw the line, Yang," he said. "No more jokes. No more flirts. No more teasing. I don't want any ambiguity. I assumed too much once before, and I've always regretted since." He held a hand up, and took a deep breath. "If this- if this is just a good time to you, then I've fun but it's time to stop. Go to the airport, go to your guy at the reunion, and say hi to everyone for me. When you're back in town, let me know how things turn out. I'll be here. As a friend," he emphasized.

Yang took a half a step forward. "And if I cross the line?"

He swallowed, but nervousness was giving way as he took half a step forward, putting them chest to chest. It wasn't fear in his eyes anymore.

"If you cross the line," he growled, "I'm going to assume things, no matter what you say. I'm going to do things I normally wouldn't. I'm going to make you prove every single thing you've claimed tonight. And then…" he trailed off, cupping her chin with his hand.

"And then?" Yang whispered.

Jaune leaned down and guided his lips to hers.

He didn't kiss her- quite. Just the corner. Just enough that it could be claimed to be the sloppily aimed kiss on the cheek befitting a drunk friend… if it wasn't the start of something more.

"Mm, you missed," Yang complained, leaning forward as he pulled back.

"Did I?" he asked, about as ambiguous as she was. "Whether you stay or go, I want you to know… I had a good time tonight, Yang. It was good seeing you again."

"It doesn't have to end yet," Yang said. "You could always invite me in for coffee."

"It's never _just_ coffee," Jaune said, perhaps the most perceptive he'd been all night.

"True," Yang admitted, tiptoeing right up to the line. "But you want to invite me in anyway, don't you?"

"This isn't about me. It's about you," Jaune said, echoing her words from earlier in the night as he retreated behind the line of the doorway. "If you leave now, no harm no foul. Stay, and…" He trailed off, unable to hide the hunger in his gaze.

"Decisions, decisions," Yang toyed, unable to help herself. "Either way, I'll have a great story to share with everyone."

He didn't sigh. He didn't play along. He turned and walked away.

"Goodnight, Yang," Jaune said, turning and staggering inside. He didn't even close the front door- leaving it open, and leaving Yang with an excellent view of his back as he began to pull off his shirt as he turned the corner.

Because he was pulling off his shirt, Jaune could only heard the door close. He didn't hear foot steps, or feel a change in the breeze, and his aura didn't warn him of any attack.

Because it wasn't an attack. Just arms reaching behind him after he'd thrown his shirt in the corner and begun reaching for his pants. Her hands stopped his right above his belt.

"Jaune," her voice whispered, forehead leaning between his shoulder blades. "Do you remember that night five years ago, when you told me the sort of thing you wouldn't do?"

Jaune tried. It was hard when blood was rushing towards his head. "Something about… not taking advantage of a drunk friend?"

"Well," she whispered into his skin, her left hand beginning to unfasten his belt. "I would."

"Ya-"

He never had a chance to finish before Yang's prosthetic hand pulled him into another searing kiss, hotter than the last. This time he responded, turning around without breaking contact so he could pull her closer by the waist. Eventually, after his hands started taking the liberties he'd promised, they separated for air.

"This is-" he began, but Yang's patience for talking was long past.

"You've no one to blame but yourself, you know," she said, before giving a gentle push that sent him tumbling backwards towards his bed. Jaune had already almost forgotten her words by the time he, and his head, hit the bed.

"Ow," he said. It had _almost_ hurt.

"Hate me in the morning," Yang whispered.

He wouldn't. There was only one thing she could do to make him even think that. But before he could say it, she followed him down and chased away any other thoughts until he woke after the last flight to Haven.

/

End Last Call

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

...


	18. Morning After

Breaking Through the Bottom of the Bottle

/

 _Five years after Beacon, Jaune's still going home alone as often as not. An unlikely encounter with Yang may have just the solution- drinks, company, and a hell of a lot of pickup lines.  
_

/

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Duh.

/

* * *

/

 _"Hate me in the morning," Yang whispered._

 _He wouldn't. There was only one thing she could do to make him even think that. But before he could say it, she-_

/

* * *

/

Sunlight, the song of birds, and the distant sound of an airship taking off were the first things he noticed. Despite the pounding in his head, it didn't bother him much. Aura made the hangover a pittance- the morning air on bare skin was worse.

Jaune didn't complain. Instead, he yawned, and stretched, and reached around for what he knew he'd feel. Cast off blankets. The wet spot in the middle. And-

 _Empty sheets and the morning after._

Jaune opened his eyes and sat up without expression, and turned towards the brightest thing in the room. No fiery hair or sunny smile awaited for him- just dim curtains blocking out a long-risen sun, and the sound of the latest departure from the local airport. A quick look confirmed- he had the entire bed to himself, no one to hot sheets or take up space or accidentally kick him in the middle of the night.

He didn't smile.

Jaune reached beneath the bed and found his pants where he'd last kicked them. The rest of his clothes were where he remembered them- but none of the clothes **_he'd_** taken off were to be seen. Only the jacket, that she'd- that they'd- never quite taken off even after he'd torn her shirt and-

Only her- his- jacket remained, neatly hanging on a re-righted chair.

"At least she left me my jacket," he said to no one as he mechanically put on his pants. At least he wouldn't have to go hunting for it. At least he wouldn't have to go across a hall, and ask, and find a room of friends and nothing more because-

"Heh," Jaune said mirthlessly as he looked out the window, and in the direction someone no doubt sleeping on the last flight to Haven.

"How can I hate you if you're not even here?"

Aura helped with the hangover, but there must have still been alcohol in his system as he stumbled out his bedroom and towards the restroom. He wasn't hoping to find anything- wasn't looking for anyone- and why should he? Hoping led to disappointment.

He cursed under his breath even before he stubbed his toe. He should have known better. He **_had_** known better. People like her- people like them- didn't go for guys like him. What had he been expecting- to find love in a bar? Someone to stay not just the night, but the morning after? That a chance meeting might lead to anything more than a momentary dalliance?

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_. An old friend with an old flame she wouldn't name? It shouldn't have surprised him. Shouldn't have fooled him. He didn't care what anyone said- he was the dumb blonde. He'd let himself forget simple things, things that he should never have forgotten if he didn't want to hurt again.

Like, never do anything drunk you wouldn't do sober. If anything seemed too good to be true, it probably was. And most of all, never, ever fall for the flirtations of an amazing woman out of your league. No matter what they say, they can always do better than you. And eventually, they'll always do. It's just a matter of how long.

He looked at the mirror to see what she could do better than, and flinched at what he saw. It wasn't the messed up hair, or the miserable expression- it was the countless bruises starting at his neck that had migrated down. Dust, she'd **_marked_** him- wouldn't even let him pretend it was just a dream if he wanted to.

Why? Why had she done that? He could have understood if she'd just left- could see the sisterly resemblance- but why mark him? Even her sister hadn't done that physically. Even she hadn't made him unable to pick up anyone else if he wanted to.

 _("Either way, I'll have a great story to share with everyone.")_

Was that it? Was that all he was? A boast, a brag, a booze buddy to get for something more? A curiosity fuck, a contingency lay, a warm bed on the side whether things went right or wrong? Had she really just had him because she could, and left him marked so he'd be available just in case she couldn't?

Was he even a friend with benefits, or was she right now looking back and thinking 'well, that was a thing'?

No wonder she'd been dancing around things all night. He'd known there was a point behind their meeting- no way she'd been hanging out in his favorite bar by chance. She'd as much as said she'd been looking for him. He'd thought she was just there to get him for the reunion, make him face Ruby. But no, she'd been looking for him- hunting him- for her own reasons. Just so she could- she could-

Anger began to fill him. His fingers clenched as his mind whispered dark thoughts and accusations he'd never say aloud. He only just resisted the urge to shatter the mirror as his vision began to darken. Jaune Arc left the restroom in desperate need for a drink.

He'd never forget those rules again, he swore it. Even if she'd made sure he couldn't forget her well after the bruises healed, and then some, he could still forget himself now. Tomorrow, maybe, he'd be up for thinking again. He could figure out how to get out of his lease, move what little he had out, and be gone before the first flight from Haven could return. And if he couldn't, he'd just walk right out with Crocea Mors. He'd given his word he'd be here- but he'd never said where 'here' was. If she wanted him to keep his word, she'd have to find him first.

Good luck to that, though. He could drop off the net so far that even Weiss and all of SDC wouldn't be able to find him. He didn't need to be there in person to send Ren and Nora letters. Ditch the scroll, change the number, and… and don't tell Ruby. Remnant was a big place. They probably wouldn't meet again. All he'd need to do to never be found was to never, ever go back. On his word, to Beacon, and to those- those-

To anyone on Team RWBY. It might not be fair to Blake and Weiss, but they'd understand. Or maybe they wouldn't- by the sounds of it, they had someone to call their own. Someone who didn't leave in the middle of the night without a word.

He'd leave. And then- and then…

And then it wouldn't matter. It'd be no different than where he'd been last night- hurting, alone, and lonely. He'd probably make the same mistake again. He was dumb like that. But it'd never again be with someone he knew from before. No one who could hurt him quite like that. No one else like them, ever again.

Fuck, what had he been thinking when he let her in? That's she'd stay the morning rather than run off and see her _dear_ sister with whom had so much in common? That she'd stick around for him, rather than go to some guy he'd never known? That she'd-

That's she'd-

That's she'd… be in his kitchen, wearing nothing but an apron?

"Morning, Jaune," Yang greeted from his stove, so focused on cooking eggs and sausage that she didn't turn around. "Hope you don't mind that I borrowed your washer- what's left of my clothes were pretty messed up after what we did, and-"

Jaune didn't care.

"You're here," he whispered, collapsing into the door way as everything that had been building in his mind fell in disarray as certainty and assumptions were swept out from under him once again.

Yang pursed her lips, and brushed some hair behind her ear. "I thought I'd make us some breakfast," she explained without turning around. "If you're up for it? I know I'm not the best cook, but-"

Jaune didn't care. She could burn water as far as he cared, so long as she was around to do it herself.

"You're still here. You didn't leave," Jaune marveled, voice cracking.

Yang looked at him, a hint of hurt, before seeing his face and understanding.

"Jaune… I'm not Ruby," she reminded him simply.

He almost fell to the floor in thanks.

"Why?"

Yang couldn't help but laugh. "There are so many ways I can answer that, I don't know where to start," Yang said, before giving an awkward but endearing smile. "But are you really going to ask me that, after last night?"

"But… you missed your flight. You're going to miss the reunion," Jaune realized, thinking of that last airship to Haven.

"But I won't miss you," Yang said, setting the frying pan down on the stove and moving towards him, reaching out with her prosthetic hand. He flinched, but not at the metal.

Never the metal.

"They'll understand. You wouldn't have," she whispered.

"But… why?" Jaune asked again as her hand fell on his shoulder.

Yang gave a lopsided grin. "Are you really going to make me say it, Jaune?" she asked. "Because I've been trying for years."

Jaune leaned forward, eyes closed and forehead on her shoulder.

"There's… no guy at the Reunion, is there?" he asked, though it wasn't really a question anymore. Just a reassurance.

"I never said there was," Yang said softly. "Only that he should be. But he hasn't shown up for years, and wasn't going to this year. Believe me- I checked."

"So when I told you to not give up…" he said, reaching for her hand on his shoulder.

"I followed a good friend's excellent advice, and tried something other than talking," Yang said, letting his fingers interlock with her metal digits. "So… how'd I do?" she asked, letting her aura glow.

 _[What do you think?]_

His aura glowed as well, and his free hand drifted to her side.

 _[HopeDoubt_ _ _Hesitance_. I don't know.]_

She guided that free hand to her arm, where metal met flesh.

 _[Did I- is it-?]_

He stroked her gently.

 _[YangInherentFavor. It's you. It's fine. You're fine.]_

Yang reached to cup his cheek.

 _[Then?]_

Jaune's eyes narrowed, just a tad, as the all-too familiar sensation returned to his heart. A sensation so ingrained the scar didn't need description.

 _[Empty sheets and the morning after.]_

She lowered her eyes.

 _[I'm sorry.]_

His free hand reached for her-

 _[HurtAbandonmentFear. I thought you left me.]_

-and found hers reaching back.

 _[I wasn't far. I've never wanted to be.]_

He squeezed, as willing as her not to let go again-

 _[ReliefForgivenessQuestion. You didn't leave. Why?]_

-and she intertwined those fingers as well.

 _[Because I-]_

Her glow faded, aura retreating from the prosthetic.

Jaune looked up at her.

"You, Yang," he said with all due seriousness, even as he squeezed her fingers and increased the shine of his aura instead, pushing past servos and down conduit wires to touch hers instead, "are one hell of a dumb blonde."

 _[BeliefUnderstandingPatience. You don't have to say it now. Not until you're ready.]_

She squeezed back, letting her aura seep back in. "Takes one to know one," she retorted, throat tight.

 _[Thank you.]_

"At least I'm not burning the food."

With the reminder, Yang's awareness widened along with her eyes. The sound of sizzling grease and once appetizingly brown sausage links had been replaced with the sight, and sound, and even the scent of char.

"Crud, crud, crud," Yang cursed, breaking the link as she hurried to take care of it. Jaune appreciated the sight of her domestic side, and her back side, as she tried to prevent the kitchen from becoming a disaster area, and not just an inedible mess.

"There goes breakfast," he eventually chuckled, not at all inclined to help out.

Yang growled, glaring at the misshapen black and now soggy lumps. "It was supposed to be a surprise," she muttered, explaining an unspoken question from earlier. "Something sweet."

"Sweet?" Jaune echoed.

By the way Yang startled, she might not have meant to say that part aloud. She certainly reddened a bit, and not from the shame of already wearing nothing but an apron that said 'kiss the cook.'

"I was going to wake you up," she said, without specifying how. "Then, after we were done, I was going to ask you a question."

She held the plate of unappetizing food before her, and leaned forward to give a dazzling smile.

"Morning, Lover Boy," she acted out, with a cleavage shot that would have made him wondering if he were still dreaming. "What would you like first- breakfast, a bath, or-" she gave a sultry grin that would have no doubt made his morning, "me?"

Jaune just stared at her for a moment, and Yang started to get self-conscious. "Maybe it worked better in my head," she admitted, "but I-"

"I'm not awake enough for this," Jaune said, shaking his head. "I'm going back to bed."

"Wha- Jaune!" Yang began to protest, but Jaune looked back at her and she saw the hint of a smile.

"This must be a dream, and if it is I want a redo on waking up," he claimed. "No breakfast. No baths. Only you. And I want you waking me properly this time."

Yang stopped protesting and adopted a dirty grin instead. "And how should I do that?" she asked, hand on her hips and both a relieved and cocky smirk on her lips.

"From beside me," Jaune answered. "Or beneath me. Or on top of me. Your choice, as long as you're there," he said, smirking back. He reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her close enough to whisper in her ear and make her shiver once more. "Get in my bed, woman."

Yang's eyes smoldered. "Want to start the day off with a bang, huh?" she said, voice deepening with desire.

"No," Jaune said, looking hungrily right back. "I want to start my day off with a _Yang._ "

She could have swooned then and there. "I have trained you well," she said with real satisfaction.

"I want more lessons, Mistress," Jaune teased.

"I'll see what I can do," Yang promised airily. "Anything else?"

Jaune stilled for a second, and the cocky grin faded just a bit. "I never want to wake up thinking you left me again," he admitted.

Her hand touched his chest, brushing a bruise still above his heart. It didn't need to be aura-laced metal to be understood.

 _[You won't.]_

"'Never' is a tall order, but I'll see what I can do," Yang claimed before sauntering forward and invading his space with all the confidence a returning conqueror. "You want anything to drink before we start?" she asked, even though neither of them were looking at the kitchen.

"I seem to remember someone last night promising me a screaming orgasm whenever I wanted," Jaune said with a grin.

Yang flicked his nose with her prosthetic. Aura took the blow. "Before we start, I said," she said with a smile.

"Ah, but I really want one," Jaune whined. "You made the best ones last night…"

"Men," Yang muttered with a pleased flush and a bigger grin. He knew just how little she'd been faking it, and vice versa, as flesh intertwined with metal and squeezed. "I guess I've got no choice but to get right on it, then," she said, using his hand to pull without pinching as she brushed past him. Soon she was pulling him back towards his bedroom, and their bed.

"Come on, Jaune- if I'm going to wake you up, I'll make this dream as dirty as I want."

"Don't you mean as I want?" Jaune asked, not minding being pulled along.

"No," she denied. "You haven't dreamed about this nearly as much as I have. You've got **_years_** of catching up to do." She verbally paused for a moment. "Though, when we get out of bed this afternoon, we _are_ going to call in to the Reunion, and you _will_ say hi to everyone you can," she said firmly, even if the squeeze of her metallic hand was softer, beseeching.

He squeezed back. "I think I can manage that, if you're there with me," he said. He paused. "And you take credit for all the hickies," he added, rubbing his neck. "Was this your way of letting them know we're-?"

"Maybe," she admitted with a chuckle, realizing he'd seen right through her plan without any insight, but gripping his held hand harder. "But deal. And maybe next year-"

"Maybe next year, we'll see Ruby and not just talk to her," Jaune said, as much an agreement as a possibility. It'd be hard- it wouldn't have been something he could do on his own- but he'd always said that when he could smile and mean it-

And maybe next year, or the one after that, they'd see something else- maybe there really would be another addition to the next generation, to be the friends of children of friends and reforge bonds left to fray.

Maybe. She'd- he'd- they'd talk to friends and see if they could be patient a little while longer. See if this would go as they both hoped.

"Thanks," Yang said for now, beaming like the morning sun as she led him by the hand around the corner from the hallway into the bedroom. "That'll be a thing. Until then, though, are you ready to pick up where we-"

She stopped moving forward when he did, pulled to a stop. Briefly she realized she was standing where he had last night, even as his arms encircled her waist this time. She wasn't the only one glowing now.

"Yang, you love me, right?" he whispered into his ear, though there wasn't much doubt in his voice.

Her fingers fell back between his, an increasingly familiar arrangement. "It's usually the guy who says it first, you know," she chided.

 _[You know the answer to that.]  
_

He should, at least.

He ignored that. "That might not be so long, because… well, you know me." And boy, didn't she? "When I get serious, I don't do half-measures. Catch me when I fall? For you?"

 _[RiskBeseechEverything. I'm putting my heart in your hands. Be careful?]_

"I said I would, right?" Hinted, at least, when she'd asked him to trust her.

 _[I will.]_

"Yeah. Thanks." A chuckle.

 _[MirthJoyUncertainty. ?]_

"What is it?"

 _[Tell me.]_

"I just- I've got no idea what to do with you after this," Jaune admitted. "We can't exactly pick each other up at a bar again."

 _[MemoryCherishEternity. I wish… I wish last night was forever.]_

"Who says we can't?" Yang asked, before pulling him forward once more, towards the bed. "And maybe next time I can drink too. But that's later. You've got a lot of missed time to make up for, buster."

 _[We can, as many times as you want.]_

He sent a pulse of aura into her arm, making even the metal seem to shiver with anticipation.

 _[GratitudeAcceptance…Completion. Thank you. For staying with me.]_

That was a bit too serious for her for now, even if it was sweet. So instead she tried to make him laugh.

"Don't worry about it. I've got a lot of ideas of what we can do together," Yang suggested.

 _[Some of them we can do in public. A few we can do with our friends.]_

"Yang?" he said, refusing to laugh.

 _[MirthInsincereCondemnation. Bad girl.]_

"Yes, Jau-"

 _[Yes, lo-]_

She was shut up when she was dragged into a kiss from behind.

"Show me," Jaune asked, opening his heart to her fully.

 _[Warm smiles, filled sheets, and the morning after.]_

"Of course," she promised, before reaching out and pinching him.

He woke up.

And then she did.

/

Begin Morning After

/

* * *

/

 _Fin_

/

* * *

/

Author Note:

And _that's_ how you write an ending open to interpretation. Thanks, grammatical ambiguity!

Yes, that's the end- see the ' _Fin'_? That's what I put at the end of the writing when I'm really done. Well, that and change the tags to 'Complete.'

And probably romance, tomorrow- after the meta-gag subsides. (If you read this later- this final chapter was posted under the 'Angst' tag, to fool alert readers. Most probably never noticed.)

Story's over, folks. There will be a post-story analysis/response to people's questions coming, which is becoming a trend of mine. It will be called the Hangover- I'll write it up sometime in the next week. If you have questions, feel free to ask, cause that's where direct responses to reviewers will go, as well as some meta-context and stuff.

Otherwise, if you don't have questions, how about leaving a review? Happy? Sad? Optimistic? Convincing yourself it's really miserable? Leave a thought, on this chapter and the story as a whole, and who knows? Maybe the muse of fanfiction will favor you in reward. I'll be grateful at least.

Cheers,

C.F.


	19. Hangover Cure (Post-Writing Notes)

**Hangover Cure**

/

As promised, time for some post-writing notes. Call it the Hangover Cure, in my ongoing tradition of witty post-story writer note titles. Product was delayed because being sick isn't fun like that. Also, writing towards the next project.

/

 **What's the origin of this idea?**

'Breakthrough' was originally conceived as a bunch of shorts for Jaune and the RWBY heroines, each a stand-alone but all grouped together with the idea of 'how to convince Jaune that, yes, you're really interested.' Different styles, different genres, and of course different methods, it was supposed to be a bunch of shorts grouped together. Each would have it's unique take- what with Weiss hiring mexican minstrels to serenade outside a window (don't ask), Ruby rehearsing for a late night mugging (really don't ask), and Blake writing blatant self-insert porn, among other things. (Okay, that last one almost makes sense.)

I may or may not (probably won't) ever get around to them, but if I ever do they'd be much, much shorter than Yang's.

/

 **What's the hook?**

Yang's hook, if it wasn't blatantly obvious by now, was flirting. Each heroine was to get a moral of the story at the start, and a new moral at the end. It didn't work out that way for this one, but Yang's was 'keep trying until you find the pickup line that works,' with the end-story moral being 'flirt, but don't tease and leave.' Like I said earlier, the story got built around pickup lines rather than the other way around. That affected it's flow and structure- if I'd been willing to cut them down, I could have shorted it a great deal. But where's the fun in that?

/

 **What kind of story was this meant to be?**

Structurally, this was a seven beat story. It's also a great demonstration of why seven beats aren't necessarily evenly spaced. In some stories, the Black Moment is a huge chuck of the tale. Here, it was... the first third of the last chapter? And some meta-foreshadowing? Point is, it was late, and short- but not necessarily bad, since 5 whole chapters of Jaune angsting about Yang leaving would have been a bit much. Despite the serious elements, this wasn't that kind of story. I would say the pacing ebbed and flowed here- the post-aura melding period where Yang starts working Jaune with pickup lines and alcohol dragged on- but it also provided a depiction of gradual, and accelerating, change.

/

 **Yang's, like, creepy towards the end. Why?**

Parts of this story were deliberately intended to provoke unease and discomfort with certain types of people. If you hold a view or go to a school of thought that says consent can't be given while drunk, Yang's uncomfortable. She knows what she wants, and goes for it, and doesn't exactly adhere to the letter or the spirit of the law. For some people, that makes what she did with and to Jaune wrong- that because he was drunk he couldn't give consent even if he really, really wanted it once his more stupid barriers to going along with it were forgotten. Some schools would say that it was even rapey. For the rest of the world, sex and booze mix all the time, and I'm quite comfortable making people uncomfortable by reflecting that. If I only wanted to write uncontroversial and comfortable things, I wouldn't write fanfiction. The entire genre revolves around making characters suffer for our amusement, and Yang's character introduction in canon is to basically attack a civilian establishment. A lady to follow the spirit and letter of laws of propriety she is not. Yang's direct, aggressive, and occasionally reckless even as she's well intentioned, and that's what I wanted to reflect.

/

 **What's the deal with the backstory? What actually happened?**

The backstory is never elaborated for two main reasons. The first is, it's better kept vague to let the reader fill in the gap for what makes the most sense for them. An explanation you come up with is better than anything I give. Second, though, is the fact that Breakthrough (as a series) was never meant to set up a romance per see- only carry it out. I don't have the patience or perseverance to do a start-to-finish romance arc of that sort, and it wouldn't have played well here. Rekindling old flames has its own appeal.

To clarify what happened in the backstory, which some people asked... well, not too much I can say, for reasons above. Sorry, Arkos fans, but Jaune's not traumatized by the death of Pyrrha. Greater apologies to Lancaster fans, like myself, for making Ruby the catalyst/cause for problems. She's just too good for it- a useful combination of cute, careless, and friendly enough with Jaune that you can almost believe it. Without getting into specifics- again, feel free to imagine what fits best for you- what happened with Ruby is that Ruby never explained why she started showing interest in Jaune until it was too late. A good part of the reason Jaune's so willfully oblivious with Yang is that the last time he assumed anything with the Beacon crew, it went that bad because the interest displayed wasn't serious.

Obviously I played it up for comedic effect, and to use a few dozen more pickup lines, but part of the intention of letting Jaune succumb when drunk was to show that he wasn't actually oblivious- he just really, really didn't intend to make the same mistake with a friend. If I had to change anything about it, I might have considered implying that Ruby slept with Jaune a few more times- unwilling to say no, but unable to to explain why it wasn't going to work out even as Jaune got invested- but ultimately that clashed with the 'one night stand' and 'morning after' points that needed to stand out.

/

 **Why did Ruby do what she did? What were her feelings?**

Her reasons were what were said by Yang- she was still a virgin, about to be an adult, and kind of worried about how she'd eventually lose it. You can read the lighter side of it- none of her teammates were virgins, and she wanted to be more like them- or you can read a darker side, about why and how she might be afraid to lose it after Beacon. Either way, Jaune was familiar, Jaune was safe, and Jaune was a friend. And she didn't know what Yang was feeling, because if she had she wouldn't have.

After the fact, though- Ruby's perspective isn't directly relevant, but she pretty much regrets it as a mistake. She hurt a friend she cared about, enough so that they almost lost him. She met Jaune since, but whatever happened clearly didn't resolve things. She eventually figured out Yang's feelings, and got to feel bad about that as well. And, if you read it just right, it's implied she's as emotionally messed up and afraid of a relationship as Jaune. Ruby's alone, and if we're being optimistic I'd say that Jaune moving on would finally help her move on.

If were weren't being optimistic, and I ever wrote a sequel, it'd probably entail Ruby living a good life alone with worse regrets and loneliness, wishing she could restart things with Jaune for a real try at something, and instead finding Jaune quite happy without her and Yang quite unwilling to let go. It probably wouldn't get any happier than that.

But hey! That's if we're not optimists, right?

/

 **Why'd you draw out the story as long as you did? It takes, like, one night.**

Pacing. If the entire story was read at once, a lot of the suspense and graduall buildup would be loss. The sense of mystery about the backstory would be lost if you read the answer in five minutes, and the tension/frustration of Jaune's resistance to Yang's flirts wouldn't feel quite as frustrating if you didn't sit through nearly a week of it. Even the annoyingly drawn out parts of the second half filled a role in making you feel, well, impatient with Jaune.

Aside from 'how long can I get away with telling the story of a single night,' the main experiment of this story for me as a writer was the use of meta-manipulation. I played with the reputation repeat-readers have of me, I kept the summary and indicators vague so that people were still wondering if Yang was mooning after someone else as far as six-eight chapters in (a solid idea, actually, just not the one I wanted), and I even played with the genre tags. The fact that the genre tags didn't say 'romance' kept a lot of people confused at first, and putting up 'angst' as a tag for the finale helped prime them for Yang's apparent abandonment. But, not everything worked as intended. Some of the chapter end/'cliffhanger' reactions weren't what I intended, which is to say people took away things I hadn't even thought of. I didn't mean to suggest that Yang would kidnap Jaune to the reunion, for example. A lot of people thought the second to last chapter was the last chapter, when I was intending to end with suspense/concern befitting the black note of the story. Etc.

/

 **What was with the aura mixing? Booo! Uncanon!**

Guilty as charged. Totally headcanon- and something I thought would be nice. It's actually a bit borrowed from different ideas that will never be written- where aura-coating something puts your heart on your sleeve so to speak- and emotional broadcasting was an entire semblance I had thought of for the Arcs as a family semblance. (This was before Season 3 actually told us that family semblances were a thing.)

Instead, I used it as a way of conveying things that they characters were feeling, but wouldn't say, without just using incredibly long narrations of their emotional feelings. Instead, it became subtext of the conversations they were having, allowing back-and-forths that worked on multiple levels.

Bottom line is- feel free to make shit up, as long as it serves the story well. In this case, it did- playing Yang's prosthetic, the idea of inability to say what they meant but coming together anyway, and some sweet, sweet emotional entanglement (literally).

/

 **The end was all a dream? If so, when did the dream start?**

Only the last chapter is a dream.

I'll admit, I threw that in there very last moment. Originally it wasn't- Jaune made the joke about it being a dream and wanting to wake up properly, but that was it. Then, towards the end as I was fiddling with words, I thought it could work as a sweet sort of thing, and set up a cool little play of words. The lines

"He woke up."

"And then she did."

Are deliberately ambiguous. You can read it as 'and then she did' as 'And then Yang woke up'- **_or_** as Yang fulfilling the promise she'd made to Jaune just before. Ie, showing him warm smiles, filled sheets, and the morning after, ie happy end.

Before the dream sequence came it, it was just straight happy end. Sadly, not many seemed to notice that grammatical ambiguity, and instead just took the more literal 'woke up.'

/

 **So, happy end confirmed?**

Well... if you _want_ to believe that Yang left Jaune, and woke up on the bullhead to Beacon as he woke up alone and abandoned... I won't stop you.

But...

/

 **I got it! When they finished doing the horizontal tango, Jaune's Aura resonated with Yang's arm while they were asleep, allowing them to share the dream. Meaning, even if the whole 'morning after' thing was a dream, they both dreamed it and shared the dream.**

 **It also explains the Feeling Brackets! And why Yang woke up immediately after Jaune!**

 **That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!**

 **But am I right, College Fool?**

I won't say this diligent reviewer is right... but I will say that if I ever commissioned an image for this piece, it'd be a shot of Jaune in bed, a prosthetic arm draped over, with fingers intertwined as he slept.

So... yeah. I never intended for this to have a sad ending. But if you want one, go for it!

/

And that's it. Overall, satisfactory story. Longer than intended- and probably broke the whole 'Breakthrough' concept- but still enjoyable to shift through and write, and hopefully enjoyable for you to read.

Please leave a review, share your thoughts if you haven't already, and have a good day.


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